Denial Revisited
by SkeletonConductor
Summary: Two people enter the realm of fog, both looking for answers. What they find will change their lives forever. Original Characters plus the return of a fan favorite. Rated Teen for some violence, some language, and a little gore. Give it a read and a review
1. Homecoming

**Author's note: I do not own Silent Hill, the locations, the creatures, or the characters. All are registered trademarks and stuff of Konami. The only things that I own are the characters I have created, this story and all the stuff in my room.**

Julia Garland had just finished packing when her cell phone rang for the hundredth time. She didn't even need to look at the caller ID to know that it was her mother. The old woman had been so persistent since they'd last spoken about Julia's trip. She pushed the bangs of her dirty blonde hair out of her forehead and pulled on a pair of jeans. The phone just kept ringing. She sighed and pulled on her favorite hooded sweatshirt. It was a black, long sleeved, zip up garment. On the back was a big picture of a super deformed anime girl with a katana in her hand. Underneath was some lettering that spelled out "Live by the sword, Die by the sword". It was a sweatshirt that had come to be her favorite in recent years.

Putting on her converse shoes and tying them, she tried in vain to ignore the insistent ring tone. Julia sighed as she grabbed her keys, wallet and her still ringing phone. With her suit case in hand she walked out of her apartment, shutting and locking the door behind her as the last conversation with her mother echoed in her head.

_"Mom I'm going to Silent Hill and that's final!"_

_"No you're not. I forbid it"_

_"Forbid it? Jesus Christ Mom, I'm not seven years old any more. I can make my own decisions now and I don't need you to tell me where I can and can't go."_

_"This is about your Aunt Lisa, isn't it? I told you years ago to just let her be. She never wanted anything to do with you. So why are you interested in her all of a sudden?"_

_"Come on mom. I may have been young but I wasn't stupid. Aunt Lisa loved me. Just because you and her didn't get along doesn't mean that the two of us weren't able to. What are you so afraid of anyway? What are you trying to protect me from?"_

_"You're Aunt abandoned…"_

_"No, no she didn't mom. I remember what you used to say. That she just stopped calling, stopped staying in touch. That she forgot all about her family? That wasn't the truth was it? Don't you think that it's a bit suspect that she 'just stopped calling'? Aunt Lisa never abandoned us all those years ago mom. She disappeared. There's a big difference there. So I want to know where she is, what happened to her and when I find her, I'm going to bring her home._

_There was a long silence_

_"So I'm going to Silent Hill. End of discussion"_

As she had hung up the phone she had heard her mother screaming at her. "No! Don't go!" But Julia didn't care. She was going to get to the bottom of this. She wasn't going to be kept in the dark about what had happened to her beloved aunt eighteen years ago. In the short time that she'd known her, Julia had fallen in love with her Aunt. It was a bond that only close family members could share. Lisa had taught her young niece so much and had been a joy to be around. She wasn't about to let all those memories go to waste without knowing what had become of her.

Walking through the small parking lot towards her jeep as quickly as she could, Julia unlocked her door and put her suit case in the passenger side. She didn't want to be here to face the wrath of her mother. Why wouldn't she just let her look her aunt up? What harm could there be in that? With a simple flick of the keys, the jeep roared to life and Julia sped off into the late afternoon.

"I'm coming Aunt Lisa" she said to herself.

She had a long, two day drive ahead of her.

**III**

It had been hours since nightfall as Ryan Simota drove his 96 Buick through the dark. On either side of the road rested miles and miles of forests. The high beams of the car made every three feet of road brighten, cutting a path that he would be able to see. Inside the cab, the man drove with one hand on the wheel and another propping up his head.

"Gonna need to get some sleep soon" he said with a yawn.

As he drove the cab was kept comfortably heated by the vent system. Perhaps it was that very heat that was lulling him to close his eyes. The smooth jazz that cooed out of the radio, probably didn't help either. It only accentuated the feelings of drowsiness. Ryan jerked his head up as his eyes started to droop.

"Nuts to this" he said, grabbing his MP3 player and hooking it up to the cassette jack.

Within minutes System of a Down's _Psycho, _belted out of the speakers and woke him up.

"Much better" Ryan smiled as he stepped back on the gas.

It would be nice to finally get a vacation. Life as a male nurse was as tiresome as it sounded. Running from here to there, checking in on patients, filling out prescriptions for the doctors to sign and mounds of paper work. Not to mention the agonizing task of taking care of the terminally sick patients. The screaming and pain that they experienced only added to his stress. But not all the patients were bad. Some were easy enough to look after, like the children or the elderly who would only be in the hospital for a few days. They were heaven compared to the agony that he faced from time to time, helping in the ER and dealing with the few cancer and AIDS patients that had taken up residence in the hospital.

But, as tough as the work was, he loved it. Helping people was like its own high. There was nothing better. But even his coworkers could see that he was getting burned out. And with a little persuasion they urged him to take a breather.

_"Listen man, I know you don't want to hear it, but you need to sit back and relax. You're gonna kill yourself faster than Old man Gillespie in room 302"_

_"I know, I know. But these people…"_

_"Yeah, yeah. These people need you. And me for that matter. World needs nurses. But what the world doesn't need are guys in their mid 20's stressed out and hopped up on Oxycontin"_

_"I never"_

_"I know, look, all I'm saying is that a burned out nurse isn't any good to this hospital. You haven't taken a break in like, what? Four years? Come on, you need to ask for some time off. You deserve it anyway."_

_"I don't know Sam"_

_"Look, after those two kids and three elderly folk died on your shifts, you've been kinda out of it."_

_"That wasn't my…"_

_"And no one's blaming you man. They were dying anyway. It's just a shame that they all had to go when you were taking care of em. Besides, we all have to take that journey sooner or later"_

_"I guess"_

_"So, any ideas of where you might take a break? Cancun, Aspen, New York?"_

_"Naw. If I'm gonna do this then I need a nice quiet place. Just a little get away. somewhere nice and peaceful, were I can wake up and watch the sun rise over the water. Like somewhere near a lake or something"_

"_Dude! Then do I have the perfect place for you. Me and the Stephanie went up there a few months back. Had this fantastic time. Improved our sex lives too"_

"_Really? What place is this?"_

And just like that, Ryan was off to Silent Hill. From what George had told him it was a nice little tourist area situated near a big lake near the North East coast. Some people liked to compare it to Mackinaw in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Nice, peaceful, great nightlife but not too loud or chaotic. A really quiet scenic place. And that's where the road had taken him. It had been about a two day drive, but he had a whole week to spend there. He knew what he really wanted was to relax, but Ryan was also hoping to meet a nice women along the way.

Working in the field that he did didn't really provide him with a lot of chances to meet nice women. Most of the time he just got hit on by the elderly patients. Ryan shook off the memories and drove, making several sharp turns on the country road. He was dressed in a pair of black jeans and an equally black long sleeved shirt. Covering the shirt was his lucky green scrub shirt. Whenever he traveled, he had to have it. It was then that Ryan started to notice something strange. There were no telephone poles anywhere.

"Huh, weird" he said to himself then stopped. "Great now I'm talking to myself again" he groaned.

It was a nasty habit that he'd developed since he was a kid. But it helped him organize his thoughts. As the System of a Down song ended and Korn's _Somebody Someone _started to play, he passed a sign that read "Silent Hill: 4 miles". Great, he'd be there within several minutes. The road started to get harder to see. That's when he noticed that a heavy fog was starting to set in.

"Shit" he said, clicking off the high beams. They'd do more harm than good in this weather.

He squinted through the murky soup in order to maintain a view of the road before he let his eyes slip to the side to follow the paint markings. The fog started to thicken even more and visibility slipped to a near minimum.

"_Must be close to the lake. That would explain this heavy fog but, Jesus, this is thick_." He thought as he tried to see through the fog.

He checked his watch and it read 10:13 P.M . Hopefully he could still get to a hotel before everything closed up for the night. Then he remembered about the active night life that George had mentioned.

"_I'll be fine_" he thought to himself. "_Everyone will probably be at a pub trying to catch a game or something_"

He smiled as he listened to the music:

_I need somebody_

_Somebody_

_Someone_

_I need somebody_

_Somebody_

_Someoooooooooooooooooneechrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh_

"What the hell?" he said, startled at the sudden explosion of sound.

The MP3 player had totally spazzed. Static blasted from the radio's speakers. Ryan reached for it to shut it off, but the screen and readout were all screwed up. He had just put fresh batteries this morning. Taking his eyes off the road, he tried to fiddle with it, but it wouldn't shut up or get back on track.

"Piece of shit" he said, taking his eyes off the road and pushing the buttons. The white noise was starting to get to him.

Through the fog, something ran out in front of the car.

"Oh, Fu…" was all he was able to get out as he swerved to avoid the thing in the middle of the road. He moved his hands in fast succession over the steering wheel, trying in vain to steady the car after missing the figure. It almost looked like a person. The fog was unnaturally thick and he couldn't see where he was going. Before he knew it, the car had slammed into the side of a cliff with a deafening crunch and flipped itself. The engine road as it was exposed to the air. Flying upside down in the air, the car landed on its roof. The impact crushed the metal some and shattered the glass of all the windows. The seatbelt pulled at him, threatening to break his ribs as it kept him firmly in place. Ryan yelled as glass shards flew into his face and the vehicle skidded across the pavement, running smack dab into something. The force of the collision jarred him out of his seat, causing him to hit his head on the steering wheel, hard.

Ryan tried to gather his senses, but the wreck had given him a nasty, throbbing headache and a case of vertigo to boot. He couldn't be sure but it was possible that he was bleeding from some cuts on his head. He tried to open his seat belt but the thing wouldn't budge.

"_Saves lives my ass_" he thought.

He tried to call out but his voice was weak. The blow to his head was a bit worse than he initially thought. He knew this dance. It was only a matter of time before he slipped into unconsciousness.

"Hey! Can anyone hear me! I need help. SOMEBODY. HELP!"

He listened but there was no answer. But there was something else that he was hearing. It was a sound to his left, like footsteps, only they sounded _off._ Like someone was walking but they were walking through mud or some other such texture. Ryan strained his neck to the left and tried to understand what he was seeing.

"_Not possible_"

A thing was walking towards him. It had the basic form of a man and had legs, but that's where the comparison ended. It didn't look like it was wearing any clothes, so its skin was completely visible. The molted tan-green flesh pulsated and rippled up the things body. Thick, gaping scars traveled across its trunk to one a huge fleshy hole in the center. But what really stood out was the thing's head and arms, or lack thereof. There were no arms on the thing and its head was nothing more than a thick nub of flesh, it twitched rapidly. The thought reminded him of a crack addict he had to treat one time. It was several feet away and made horrible gurgling noises, like choking and trying to hack something up at the same time. As it got closer, Ryan's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out. Still strapped into his car seat.

If only he'd been right side up he would have seen what he'd collided with. In front of the car was a large sign that read: **Welcome to Silent Hill. Enjoy your stay.**


	2. Town of endless fog

She had just gotten onto the road that would lead into town when the fog started to roll in.

"Perfect" Julia said to herself over the roar of the jeep.

The drive over the past two days had been easy going at best. A little bit of rain while she had passed through Pennsylvania. That and her cell phone constantly ringing till the battery died. No doubt her mother trying to get a hold of her in order to persuade her to stay home. But otherwise it had been a calm trip with very little in the way of distractions or detours. She let loose a large exhale as the jeep's radio belted out some old Celtic music that she had grown so fond of. Julia's mind wasn't really focused on the road. It was focused on what little memories of her Aunt Lisa she held on to.

From what she could remember, Aunt Lisa had always been a happy woman. She was never seen without a wide smile on her face. It was a look that was able to brighten up any gloomy room that she walked into. Julia could also remember how her aunt used to dress. A very reserved, sensible look. She had always worn a cream colored blouse and skirt with a scarlet red sweater. It was an ensemble that Julia had always come to associate with modesty and being proper. Julia could still remember her aunt taking her for walks along the border of Toluca Lake, getting ice cream and visiting the amusement park. All the while they walked hand in hand. The memories made her heart jump and a twinge of sadness crept into the back of her head.

Would her Aunt even remember her after all these years? It had been so long since they had last seen each other and Julia wondered if the length of time had strained both their memories as well as their relationship. A lump caught in her throat as she choked back some tears. The years really had taken a toll on her and even though the memories had faded like that of a pressed flower, Julia was determined not to let the love she felt for her Aunt just slip away.

"She'll remember. She has to" she thought to herself.

Aside from the way she dressed and wore her hair, Julia was the spitting image of her Aunt. Same height, build and facial features from what she could gather from her memories and photographs. How could anyone forget a face like that?

Julia continued to drive through the dark murkiness of the fog as she passed a large sign that read: **Welcome to Silent Hill: A friendly get away**. Instantly the sign brought back memories of her young life.

"I remember this sign" she said to herself excitedly, smiling in rememberance..

Soon a flood of memories would come pouring back into her. Julia's smile soon faded in frustration as she tried to get a better handle on the road ahead of her. The fog was really coming in thick and visibility was almost non existent. Luckily she was already at the edge of town. She wouldn't have to worry about finding her way around, not with perfectly good land marks to guide her. Turning onto Bachman Rd, she scanned the street for somewhere to stop and take a break. Suddenly, her engine shut off.

"What the…?" she exclaimed.

She hadn't hit the brakes, shifted gears of even touched the keys. The jeep had just shut off. The vehicle was practically new; there was no reason for it to be acting up like this. Hitting the brakes, Julia halted the costing jeep with a sudden screeching of the tires. Checking the keys, she tried to start the engine again. All she got for her troubles was a loud grinding of protest. She attempted to start the jeep several more times, even going as far as to pump the gas a little. It did no good. All that happened was the same grinding noise of metal from somewhere under the hood. Something must have been wrong with the electrics because the headlights were off as well.

"Damn it!" she said, hitting the steering wheel with her fist.

Julia instinctively grabbed her phone to call for her mother before she remembered that the battery was dead. That, plus she wasn't a kid anymore. Twenty three year olds didn't go around calling their parents _every time_ they had a problem. They solved them by themselves. Like adults. Putting the phone into her pocket, she reached into her glove compartment for her wallet, a flashlight and her small can of pepper spray. Even though she was just going for some help, she didn't particularly feel like getting raped tonight. Taking the keys out of the ignition, she opened the door and slammed it shut.

"Shit" she breathed, pulling her hood up. "Why does this have to happen now? Now, when I'm not even a quarter of a mile away."

Debating the causes wasn't going to help her now. She was no mechanic so walking into town and getting a tow truck was her best bet. Julia just wished she didn't have to it in the dark. She took a breath, turned on the flashlight and started to jog through the dark, deeper into Silent Hill.

**III**

Ryan was dreaming. It was so clear that it almost seemed to be happening in real time. From a first person perspective, he was walking through a hospital. It wasn't just any hospital. It was his place of employment. The soft patter of his nurse slippers echoed through the empty halls. The lights were down low in this wing of the building. Everyone must have been sleeping. A standard proto call to make sure everyone had a pleasant nights rest. And they couldn't very well have that with 40 watt fluorescent lighting buzzing around them. Even though it was a place he was familiar with, it was unquestionably quiet. This made him nervous.

Hospitals in themselves could be spooky. But they were even more so when it was late at night, quiet, low lit and devoid of people.

_"Man, where the hell are all the staff?"_

There should be at least a secretary reading a book or a janitor power washing the linoleum. From somewhere to his right, Ryan thought he could hear a low, pitiful sound. As he walked closer it was clearly the sound of someone very young, crying and sniffling. He turned a corner and saw a young boy in a hospital gown standing in the middle of the hall with his hands in his eyes. The boy's back was to Ryan and all he could make out was the boy's dark brown hair.

"_Hey little man. What's wrong? What are you doing out of bed at this hour?" _

He got down on one knee and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. The child turned around, hands still covering his tear stained face.

_"Hey, Come on. There's nothing to be sad about."_

The young boy dropped his hands from his head, letting them fall to his sides. He snapped his head up and looked at Ryan. The boy's eyes were solid black obsidian. Just empty, soulless pits where eyes should be. Instantly the boy's skin started to bubble, ooze and melt away. Thick tracks of stinking flesh fell to the floor. The boy lumbered toward him with a low shamble. His skin hung off his body, leaving a dark concoction of red, pussy muscle and some bone. He opened his mouth and let out a terrible, gurgling wail.

_**"YOU LET ME DIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE! YOU KILLED MEEEEEE!!!"**_

Ryan snapped awake, gasping. His heart hammered in his chest.

"Just a nightmare" he said to himself.

Something felt wrong and he could see that he was still buckled into his seat, upside down. His head felt like a two by four had been smashed into it. The pounding in his temples was excruciating. Reaching up to nurse the wound, Ryan was rewarded with a sharp stab of pain in his head. His hand came away bloody.

"Great. That's just great." He said as he let his bloody palm drop.

Ryan looked around for a way to get out of the seat. He glanced to his right and saw a glint of metal lying on the ceiling of the Buick. Straining in the seat, he could see that the glove compartment had popped open. And lying a few feet away was his grandfather's old switchblade. Ryan reached and strained towards the blade, the weapon just inches from his grasp. With one huge lunge, he scooped it into his hand.

"Gotcha!" he said and immediately started to saw at the material of the seat belt.

Within minutes he was free and fell to the roof with a thud. Being careful not to cut himself on the shards of glass that were around the area, Ryan army crawled out of the wreck. Standing was difficult as a wave of inertia hit him. His equilibrium was off and the crash had made him feel disoriented. He shook off the effects the best he could and looked around. Whatever he had seen walking towards the car was gone.

"Huh, must have been hallucinating?" he said to himself. There was no way what he saw was real.

Ryan turned around, looked at his car and then at the giant sign that he had crashed into.

"_'Enjoy your stay'. Yeah right. Great way to start a vacation. Driving through the fog in the middle of the bloody night. Kids running out in front of people's cars. And to top it all off, my insurance agency is going to put my balls in a vice for this_." He thought, throwing up his arms in frustration.

He kicked his car.

"Shit! Man, this is so freaking lame"

At least nothing was broken. No bones or large tears in the skin. That was the lucky part. There was really nothing else that could be done. Unless he wanted to camp out under the stars, he would have to walk into town and get some help. And some pain medication. But that would have to come later. Ryan ducked down and fished out some essential supplies from inside the car. Namely a bandana to wrap around his head in order to stop the bleeding and a flashlight. Plus his MP3 player. Even though the thing had nearly cost him his life, there was no reason that he should be without his own internal soundtrack. Ryan deposited the player in his pocket along with his keys, made sure he had his cell on him, wrapped the bandana around his head and walked down Ellroy street into town. In a series of short steps, he disappeared into the dark fog of night. The flashlight guiding his way.

A few feet away, an inhuman thing trotted in the fog. It lurched away into the darkness, all the while making the same gurgling noises it had before.

**III**

Julia had been walking for a few hundred yards down Backman Rd. Either everyone was already asleep for the night or Silent Hill had really gone to hell since she'd last been here. Even though she'd only just crossed the intersection of Backman and Finney street she could tell that something just wasn't right. There wasn't much electricity running through the shops or corner stores. She had tried checking out the convenience store just as she entered town, only to find it hauntingly deserted and locked.

"HELLO! IS ANYONE HERE!?" she called out into the darkness. "MY CAR BROKE DOWN JUST OUTSIDE OF TOWN AND I NEED SOME HELP!"

No answer. Not even a light turning on in a house. Her voice was lost on the cold dark air of the town. Julia was starting to like her current situation less and less. The fog and night had blended together, making it incredibly difficult to see anything that wasn't three feet in front of her. It was impossible to tell if what she was seeing was fog or the pitch black of night. A primal fear, a fear that only comes from the unseen and the unknown, ran down her spine. Julia didn't want to admit it, but she really didn't want to be here. At least not right now when her sight was good for nothing. She should have come up here when the Sun was out. Walking around in the dark was not her cup of tea.

"_Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now_" she thought. "_I'm here so I might as well get done what I have to get done_"

She was just about to reach the corner of Buckman and Matheson Street when she heard a noise. It sounded like heavy foot steps, the noise making her heart jump at the sudden manifestation of sound.

"_Just someone out for a walk. Probably a drunk. Nothing to be scared of. Plus I have pepper spray_" she thought as she turned her attention to the small aerosol can she had with her. "_Pepper spray and a poor disposition. Awesome, at this rate I might as well rob Fort Knox after I finish up here_."

She was getting closer to the source of the footsteps and she could tell there was something a bit wrong with them. Even though they were heavy steps, it sounded as if whoever was walking had stepped in mud. Deep smacking sounds resonated from the pavement a few feet ahead of her. She had just passed the Queen Burger when something really out of the ordinary happened.

"Bzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzz."

"What the hell?" she said, looking down at her front pocket.

Her cell phone was going off again. But that didn't make any sense. The battery had died hours ago. Was it possible that it had saved some of its own charge? Julia heard the foot steps stop, and an eerie slurping sound came from a few feet away. It was a familiar sound. A sound she couldn't quite place. It sounded almost like something _eating._ Julia turned to her left and shinned her flashlight down the side walk. She froze when she saw what was on the ground.

"_Blood?_"

Dread filled her heart as she saw a long trail of blood travel down the side walk. The deep scarlet color was nearly black in the low light of the night fog. The trail seemed to move as if something had been dragged from the spot it had initially been at. Julia's mind raced as to why such an out of place thing was now spread across the sidewalk in front of her. Something was seriously messed up about this town. She let her light travel the length of the blood trail till it stopped. What she saw made her eyes widen in terror and the color drain from her face.

"No way. No way" she whispered, unable to wrap her mind around what she was seeing.

On the side walk lay the body of a man or woman. She could make out that it was wearing jeans but that was about it. On top of the body was a gigantic, towering _thing. _Words couldn't describe what Julia was seeing. The thing was like a giant tripod. Two long appendages made up what she could only assume were arms. Its narrow body supported itself as it indulged in the fresh kill at its own feet. The thing's neck was impossibly long and ended at the body on the ground. It made weird twitching movements, tearing off pieces of flesh and blood from the head and torso of the body. Little bits of red gore sprayed here and there.

Julia's breathing became rapid and intense with fear as she trained her light on the thing in front of her. It stopped eating and turned its head toward the light. She could see that there really wasn't a head per se. All it was was just a flat face at the end of the neck. Its eyes were like slits and its mouth was a mattered parting of flesh. It stood up, blood dripping down its front, and started to walk towards her. Its head twitched as it did so and Julia saw that the whole creature resembled nothing more than a giant bag of walking, rotting meat.

Without further hesitation, Julia turned and ran. The flashlight in her hand sliced through the darkness as she pumped her arms in fear. Aunt Lisa or no Aunt Lisa, she was getting out of this hell hole immediately.

"Askkkeeeurrrghhhh"

The creature let out a low rumbling moan as it trotted after her, hungry for her blood.

**III**

Heading north on Ellroy street, Ryan Simota was already unnerved at how quiet it was. Granted it was getting late at night, but at least people had the good sense to leave a light on or something when it was this dark and foggy out. He didn't really mind the dark. Living where he did, he had to walk home some nights. So he was used to it. But it was the quiet stillness which rested over the town that made him nervous. There were no identifiable sounds in the area. The only noises were his own footsteps and pulse pounding away in his forehead.

"Silent is right. This vacation's off to a less than pleasant start" he said under his breath.

Things would have been better if he could see clearly. The night was making his trip into town difficult. Or it was possible that he hadn't really shaken off the effects of the crash just yet. But what was really getting to him were the after thoughts of his nightmare.

"_Man what an effed up dream_" he thought.

He didn't know what he could have done to deserve that. Normally his dreams were filled with visions of Lucy Liu or some other hot woman he would have loved to take to bed with him. And occasionally there were the weird hangover dreams that looked like they had come out of a Tool music video. But nothing like he had experienced when he woke up awhile ago. The hospital had been his place of employment. That much he could gather

"_But that kid. There was something strangely familiar about him_." he thought to himself again.

Oh well, the whole thing had just been a bad dream, no matter how far out of left field it had come. Ryan continued to make his way up Ellroy street, shining his light to the left and right. He hoped to find some place familiar that could pass for some form of assistance. A restaurant, hotel or even a…

"Gas station, jackpot" he said out loud.

Shining the light across the road, he came across a gas station, the house lights were off. Jogging up to the building he headed for an old looking wooden door that led into what Ryan could only assume was an office or cash register area. He stopped abruptly when he saw that the door was slightly ajar.

"_Okay, so do people not lock their doors at night here? Or what_?" he wondered

Pausing slightly, he walked into the office. Shining the flashlight around, he could tell there was something definitely wrong with the picture before him. Bottles of oil were strewn all over the floor along with some beverages and snack cakes. Newspapers and receipts littered the area as well. Maybe someone got robbed. The sound of the items crunching, rolling and shifting under his feet didn't make him feel much better.

"Hello" Ryan called out. "Anyone here? I was in an accident outside of town and I need some help. A tow truck? Even a band aid would be nice."

Nada. It was too quiet. Ryan needed some noise or else he was going to lose it. He looked at the MP3 player and tried to turn it on but it just sat in his hands, lifeless. Somewhere in the dark, a sound of a wrench or some other tool rang out as it fell to the floor. With his heart trying to burst from his chest, Ryan instinctively turned around and trained his flashlight towards a door. It read "Garage". He only hopped that it was a mechanic having a late night booze run with his buddies and it had gotten out of hand. Ryan advanced towards the door slowly, his heart racing. He pushed the door open and stepped into the garage. There was a surprising lack of motor vehicles in the area. A deep smell of gas and oil hit him as he swept the light through the area. Suddenly, the MP3 player sprang to life. Sticking one of the buds in his ear, Ryan listened for the sound and was astounded to find that it was just white noise. The thing wasn't fixed at all. Somewhere in the darkness, over the sound of white noise, Ryan heard something wet move, like heavy breathing and eating at the same time.

He shinned the light and caught a work bench. Near the ground were a man's legs sticking out from behind the left side of it.

"Uh, Hello?" he called out. Ryan was starting to dread where this was going.

He looked to the side and attempted to understand the horror of what he was seeing. The headless corpse sat propped up against the wall. A thick splatter of blood and brain matter painted the wall it leaned against. The torso was completely torn open. That in itself should have been scary enough, if it wasn't for the other thing standing right by the corpse.

"Fuckin hell!" he breathed.

Whatever it was, it had once been a dog. Now, it only resembled the animal in form alone. The thing standing before him was an ugly shit green color, hairless and smelled worse than a skunk and a carton of rotten milk combined. It stopped eating the corpse and turned its head. The thing had no eyes but Ryan knew it was looking right at him. Its long proboscis like tongue drooped out of its mouth before retracting in to its jaws. The dog thing put its head low to the ground and growled at him.

"Shit" he said with wide eyes.

If he ran, he was a dead man. The thing would be on him in seconds. Even though it didn't have eyes, he didn't doubt that it would get him.

"Nice doggy, good boy" he said, reaching slowly into his pocket for the switchblade. He had to be careful. Any sudden move could be his last.

Keeping the light on the dog, he withdrew the knife, pressed the button, and the blade popped out with a "click". As soon as he did that the dog thing charged at him. Ryan sidestepped and lashed out with the switch blade. He was rewarded with a large yelp and the dog creature fell back. Things were starting to go his way. There was one problem though. The blade was no longer in his hand. Using the flashlight, Ryan could see that it was lodged in the creature's side. Thick, oozing matter poured out of its abdomen and it growled at him.

"Fuck me sideways" he said backing up against the wall.

Ryan bumped into something and it clanged against the stone wall. Without taking his eyes off the dog, he closed his free hand around it and lifted the object up. It was a steel pipe. The thing had to weigh a good seven and a half pounds. Now he had something better than the switch blade.

The dog charged at him and he swung the pipe in a long arch. The metal piece connected with the creature's head, knocking it to the floor of the garage in a heap. It let out an even louder yelp as it fell to the ground. Without any hesitation, Ryan ran over to the thing and started beating it with the pipe. Each time he struck it, the thing cried out in pain. Ryan didn't care, he wasn't about to let this thing back up for another round. He just kept hitting it and hitting it, grunting each time in terrified fury. He heard a deep crack of bones breaking and stopped bludgeoning the figure. Stepping back, Ryan tried to catch his breath as raw adrenaline pumped through his system.

The creature started to twitch and Ryan jumped, surprised. The thing must have been pretty resilient. He had to have hit it at least ten times. Without another thought, he ran up to it, raised the pipe above his head and brought it down as hard as he could into the dog thing's skull. There was a sickening crack and crunch as the bone fractured, deflating its head. Ryan stopped, knowing that it wasn't going to get back up.

"Play dead" he said, breathing heavily.

Instinctively, Ryan grabbed the pipe and ran from the gas station. He didn't know where to run to. The only thing he knew was that he wanted to get as far away from this place as possible. From somewhere in the darkness he heard the sound of howling and knew that there were more of the dog things around.

"Crap. I gotta get out of this crazy ass town" he said, scanning the street.

He'd hoof it if he had to. So long as he was away from this place. The only problem would be finding his way through this fog. Then from somewhere in the dark he heard a woman scream. From what he was able to discern, it was coming from the north. At least two hundred yards or so. Ryan didn't like this one bit, and the temptation to beat it the hell out of town tugged at his consciousness.

"_Okay, think Simota. Save a stranger or run like a bitch. Save a stranger or get your throat torn out by 101 jacked up Dalmatians. Live or die_"

He would feel like a gigantic tool for just leaving someone to die. And with that thought pushing him against his survival instinct, he set off running into the town of endless fog.


	3. Flight or Fight

Julia ran through the streets, back the way she had come. He shoes made a slight patter noise on the pavement and she had tears in her eyes. They were tears of someone who knew that death was coming for them. Everything she had seen in the past several minutes had seemed like a horrible nightmare. All she wanted to do was wake up, wishing it would all end. She was exasperated to find that this wasn't a dream and she wasn't going to wake up. This town, the creature, the dead person, the blood and gore and all the other sick and twisted shit. It was all real, every last bit of it. Julia screamed at her self internally.

"_What did I do to deserve this_?" she thought as her chest burned and her legs turned to stone.

She took a look back and shined her flashlight through the fog. The rotting meat bag thing was still behind her, at least several feet away. There was no way that thing could catch up to her. It was unreal. She could practically hear the slurping and squishing noises it made as it walked. It was coming for her and she knew it wanted her blood. Julia prayed to God that she lived through this. A small part of her told her not to put her faith in a higher power. There was no God in this place. This place, this town that she had stumbled into, it wasn't just some small hamlet that had gone to hell. This place, it was Hell.

Julia broke her gaze away from the creature and turned back towards the inky darkness of the street. She tripped over something and fell face first onto the pavement. The flashlight flew out of her hands and into the darkness. It made a small series of sounds as it rolled away. Tasting the salt from a nose bleed, Julia looked to her right. Through the darkness, she could see what she had fallen over.

"No way, NO WAY!" her mind screamed.

Rolling into the darkness of what had to be an alley was something that shouldn't be out in the streets. The small squeak of wheels, the glint of metal, and long flat shape resting on top of the wheels. All this formed a perfect picture in her head of a hospital gurney. A hospital gurney in the middle of a deserted street. A gurney, with a cadaver lying on it. A limp arm fell to the side of the gurney

"Oh my god!" she yelled.

She couldn't afford to let that thing get any closer to her, but she had to get her flashlight back. Otherwise, she would be blind. Clawing at the ground and to her feet, she huffed and puffed her way in the direction that she thought the light had gone. The wet sounds of the creature got closer.

"Arrrrrrgggggsshhhhhh" it screamed.

The sound only provided more incentive for her to move her ass. She ran until she could make out the flashlight on the ground. If she could have seen her way, Julia would have been able to make out the small café to her right. Dropping to the cool pavement on all fours, she reached towards the flashlight. She was within inches of it when all of a sudden, something grabbed her leg. She screamed as the meat thing pulled her away from the flashlight, her fingers lightly touching it. Then in a cruel twist of fate, the flashlight dropped out of sight. It fell down the storm drain it had been resting near and made an audible splash in the sewers below the street. And that was it. She was going to die.

**III**

Ryan ran through the dense fog. He didn't really know where he was running to. The screaming was inconsistent, which made determining the location of the person difficult. Not to mention that he was scared shitless. That didn't help matters much either. Upon exiting the gas station, Ryan ran East on Bloch Street, carrying the pipe. His legs were tired, lungs burned and the near constant rush of adrenaline made his heart pound in his chest. Stopping at the intersection of Bloch and Backman and gasping for breath, he tried to listen for the screaming again. His ears were met with initial silence, putting him even more on edge. Then a sound rang out from far away. He strained his ears to pinpoint the source. What registered in his memory made his blood turn to ice.

It was a dog howl. Then there was another. And another. Soon, the whole town was filled with the ghostly calls. There had to be a ton of those dog things in the area. And they didn't sound happy. Failing to remain calm, Ryan started to talk to himself again.

"Do not show fear. This is me without fear" he paused and looked at the pipe in his hands. "And a seven and a half pound metal pipe"

"Oh my god!"

The sound came from a ways ahead, up Backman street. It made him jump out of his skin before he collected himself and set out running again.

"Please don't be dead, please don't be dead…" he kept saying to himself as he ran for all he was worth.

The flashlight he had in his hands made navigating the pitch black area a little bit easier, but this didn't put his mind at ease in the slightest. Whatever was up ahead that could make a woman scream like that had to be bad news. And here he was, running head on to meet it.

"_I must be the dumbest asshole on the planet_" he thought as he pumped his legs faster.

Before long, he made his way up the entire length of Backman. He swept the flashlight to the left and right, trying to see where the person was.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?" Ryan called out. "COME ON! LET ME KNOW YOU'RE STILL HERE!"

As if on cue, another scream rang out into the air. Along with it came the white noise from his MP3 player. Ryan didn't completely understand, but the white noise must have meant something. Why did it keep going off? It didn't matter. He'd worry about it later. If he lived through this.

He swept his flashlight through the street, looking for the woman. What the light fell upon was something completely unexpected and otherworldly, making him lose focus on the task at hand. Standing in the middle of the street was an old man. He wore a hospital gown and was hanging onto an IV stand. The small bag of saline solution glowed a transparent glow as the light hit it and there was a subtle sound of the wheels squeaking as it was dragged across the pavement.

"_Okay. That's a new one on me_" he thought in startled confusion.

Did this old man not know how dangerous this place was? Even more perplexing was why a hospital patient would be walking around the streets at night, with an IV. He looked at the man, dumbfounded as he turned and started to walk away. As he did so, Ryan could see heavy burn markings on the man's back. They were third degree burns at best. The skin was horribly charred as were what he could almost make out as bones. It was impossible. The man shouldn't even be living, let alone walking around with those type of injuries.

"What the hell. This isn't right. He's gotta be on PCP or something to not feel that" Ryan said, a little bit of fear creeping into his voice.

The old man looked back at Ryan.

"All your fault. You're going to die here" he said, raising one ancient finger and pointing at Ryan.

He started to walk away into the darkness.

"What the Christ?" Ryan said under his breath.

Ryan ran in the direction the man had headed, but it was no use. He had disappeared. Then realization dawned on him. He shook his head and blinked several times.

"Jesus. I'm seeing things" he said, running a hand over his forehead.

It seemed so real. Stuff like this didn't just happen to people. There had to be something seriously wrong with him if he was seeing things this vividly. Much less hearing them.

"Someone, please help me!" the voice rang out.

Ryan snapped his head up. The scream wasn't far ahead. It was so close it made his ears ring. He wasn't too late. Whatever was happening to this woman, he was going to stop it. He was going to stop it and make damned sure that the culprit experienced some intense pain. Ryan ran farther and shinned the light into the darkness. What he saw made him want to empty his bladder. Standing a good ten feet away was some sort of hideous thing, worse than the dog thing he had seen. Words couldn't describe it because there were no words in any language on the planet that could describe what he was seeing. It was like something out of someone's worst nightmare. A big walking bag of rotten meat and flesh, with impossibly long arms and an equally long neck. Ryan couldn't grasp what it was doing to this woman.

It was beating on the her. She was trying to shield her self but the thing just kept hitting her and hitting her. Her cries echoed out into the unforgiving night. Ryan let instinct take over and ran to help the fallen woman. He held the pipe like a baseball bat, ready to strike. Closing the distance he started hitting the creature. The pipe impacted with its flesh and made horrible squishing sounds. None the less, Ryan could tell it was doing some damage.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" he screamed as he wailed on the meat thing.

It screamed and inhuman scream as the blows connected with it. It was definitely feeling it. Turning its attention away from the woman on the ground, it semi-turned towards Ryan and swung at him with a massive appendage. Its arm, if it could even be called that, drove right into Ryan's chest like a cannon ball and lifted him off the ground. Somehow he lost his grip on the pipe as an incredible pain poured through his chest and he was sent flying backwards. It was horrible. Even as he was propelled like a rag doll, he knew that the wind had been knocked out of him. That pain was replaced with something worse. Within seconds, Ryan crashed through the display window of the little café on the side of the street. The window impacted and shattered as his body met with it. Shards of glass fell everywhere and created a shimmering orchestra of noise. He rolled to a stop underneath the pay counter. Gritting his teeth, he cradled his ribs in pain and tried to catch his breath. Everything in him hurt like hell and he wanted to die.

Something deep in him screamed for him to get back up and finish what he'd started. Struggling to his feet, his head hit the underside of the counter, making him fall backwards. Something that had been fastened to the counter fell on top of him. It was long, metal and heavy. Ryan just looked at it with wonder in his eyes. What had fallen into his lap was probably better than all the Christmas and birthday presents in the world combined.

"Oh what? What the fuck is this?!" he said with an insane sense of glee.

**III**

Julia was going to die. The thing had already broken her arm. She could tell it was broken because of the immense pain that came from it as well as the odd angle it was at, like a chicken wing. This thing was going to kill her. Not only that, but someone had tried to help her. She had heard him screaming and hitting the thing. Now he was gone, probably dead. And she was next. Her mind couldn't grasp what was going on. Why was this happening? Why was this happening to her? Now? Here? She had never been a bad person. She didn't deserve this.

Julia tried to shield herself but it did no good. The meat creature just kept hitting her, breaking her down. Julia cried, tears streaming down her face, and prayed that it would all end. Prayed that something would make the meat monster die or disappear or drop off the face of the goddamn planet. Anything. Just so long as it stopped hurting her.

BLAM!

The meat creature was sent back several feet as a thunderous blast ripped through it. It fell to the ground with a deep smacking sound and screamed in agony. Deep, red blood poured out of the wounds that had been made in its form. Julia looked up, tears making her eyes difficult to adjust to the sight she was seeing. A bright light shown down at her. Was this God, coming to save her?

"_No, not God_" she thought as she could see what was walking towards her.

A man stood a few feet away, carrying a pump action shotgun. He pumped it and ejected a spent slug. The small piece of metal and plastic fell to the ground with a noticeable hollow ping sound. All she could do was watch in profound astonishment as the man walked past her and towards the withering form on the ground a ways away. The man didn't even look at her, just kept his mind set on the creature ahead. He strode up to it and stopped, looking down at it. The thing tried to lash out at him, albeit weakly. With his back to her, there was no way she could see whatever expression was on his face. Julia fought to her feet, attempting to drive out the aches in her body and the shooting pain in her arm.

"What is it?" she asked, crying and terrified.

The man aimed the shotgun at the creature.

"Dead" he replied and pulled the trigger at point blank range.

BLAM!

Something wet slapped at him as the creature's spasms and roar of the gun died out. It stopped moving and its form settled on the pavement. A stinking smell filled the air as death came for the creature. Julia could hear the man mutter "yuck" as he held his arms out to the sides and looked at himself in utter disgust.

Setting the shotgun down, he took off his scrub shirt and let it drop to the ground. It fell quickly, making a wet mushy sound as it connected with the pavement. As he turned around, she saw his flashlight shine across the pavement and his shirt. It was soaked with the thing's blood. He picked up the weapon and retrieved the fallen steel pipe from earlier. Then the man came towards her and held out his hand. Hesitantly, she took it and he helped her to her feet.

"You okay?" he asked in a concerned tone.

Julia was so scared and so glad to see another human being that she threw her arms around the man and cried into his chest. He soon put an arm around her, holding her for a few minutes and saying "It's alright" over and over again. Then he released her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know what the hell is going on in this town but we should leave, now!" he said.

With her good arm, Julia wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at the man. He was young, at least a year or two older than her. Earplugs for an MP3 player hung around his head along with a bandana secured around his temples. There was blood on it and she couldn't tell if it was coming from him or the meat thing he had just killed.

His frame was tall, had a decent build and without the scrub shirt, was dressed completely in black. Strong brown eyes looked at her with concern, making her feel a bit better about her current predicament. She didn't want to admit it, but he was also pretty handsome. Julia silently chastised herself for acting the way she did. Letting her emotions get the better of herself. But who was she kidding, she had almost died.

Nodding, she said "Alright. Are…are you from around here?"

He shook his head "No, came here for a vacation. Had no idea that I'd be walking smack dab into the middle of Hell" he said as he loaded a few slugs into the gun and cocked it. "Man, I'm gonna kill George and Sam when I get out of here"

"Who?" she asked sniffling and cradling her arm.

"Friends of mine who said this was a perfect vacation spot. Boy were they wrong"

"Do…do you have… a car we can use?" she asked

"Yeah" he said as he turned and looked in every direction of darkness "…but unless you want to try and flip it back over, work on the engine, the axles and the gears for a bit, we're stuck here"

"What?" Julia asked, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I was in an accident just outside of town" he said as he pointed in a direction that he thought was out of town. "My car is totaled and sitting upside down. That's how I got this" he said, pointing to the bloody bandana around his head. "So my question to you is 'do you have a car we can use?'"

Julia nodded. "Yeah, but it stalled just up the road. It won't run"

The man pondered this for awhile, putting a hand to his chin.

"Well, it sure beats standing out here in the opening waiting for some walking cadaver thing to come out and eat us. We can wait there until this fog lifts or morning comes. Then we beat it the hell out of here"

"What about a phone?" she asked pulling hers out of her pants pocket. "Mine doesn't have any service"

The man reached into his own pocket and pulled out two objects, shining his light on them. They were the two halves of his own cell phone.

"Neither does mine" he said, depositing the items back into his pocket.

Julia noticed the shotgun in his hands and pointed at it uneasily.

"Uh, where did you get that?" she asked.

"It was in that café that I flew through, of all places" he said with a jerk of his thumb. "Fully loaded with a box of shells lying near it. About forty rounds tops"

From somewhere in the darkness, the howling rang out again, making the two jump. The man pointed the shotgun and flashlight into the darkness before lowering it and turning back to Julia.

"What the hell is that?"

The man turned and started walking.

"You don't want to know. Come on. We can play twenty questions later. Right now I think we should get to your car" he said, leading her by the hand.

The two of them set off running up Backman road. It wasn't getting any easier to see in front of them. The man held her wrist as they ran through the street, her hand grasped the steel pipe that he had been carrying. If he was going to have a weapon, so was she.

"Okay" he said, breathing heavily. "How much farther is your car?"

"Just a few more feet, I think" Julia replied as she looked behind her.

Something happened and she collided into the man's back. A sharp pain shot through her arm. She cradled the appendage and looked at the man. He had stopped.

"What? What is it?" Julia asked looking beyond the man.

"The road" he said in a disbelieving voice.

"What about the road?" Julia asked, perplexed.

"The road is completely gone" he replied.

"That's bullshit" she said, pushing past him before he yanked her back.

"Look!" he said, shinning the flashlight on the ground.

Julia looked beyond the man and saw where the flashlight was pointing. It traveled across the pavement and then into a dark, foggy void. He swung the light from side to side, traveling the entire stretch of road. It all just stopped and dropped off. The road broke apart, a jagged mess of concrete and rebar ended the street. The rest was a cliff which went straight down into nothingness. It was like something had come and tore up the entire town before dropping it into space. There was no way out of town


	4. American Ghost Dance

The night just kept getting better and better. In what had to be an impossible feat, the road before the two travelers just stopped and became a cliff. Broken pieces of concrete signified the street's end. Ryan was helpless as he just looked down into the void. Their ticket out of town had just been torn to shreds.

"That's just brilliant" he said, staring over the edge. "How does something like this happen? I mean, it's not like we're in goddamn California or anything. Cause I didn't feel any earthquakes"

He looked at the young woman that was with him. Her eyes were wide and unbelieving to their current status. It was as if she was trying to deny the scene in front of her.

"No, no, no. This is wrong. This wasn't like this when I came into town", she said, attempting to wrap her mind around the phenomenon. "I had a car and it was right over there!" she almost yelled, pointing into the darkness. She hissed in pain and started to nurse her arm.

"Well, it's not here now" Ryan replied, glancing at the woman's arm. "Hey, let me take a look at that" he said, extending his hand.

The woman looked at her left arm and then at Ryan before slowly complying. He didn't even have to touch it to know she was in a world of pain. Whatever that creature had done to her, it had broken her arm. It was cocked at a weird angle in the forearm. The woman winced even as he gently examined her. Shining the light on her, he could see that her arm was puffy and red, obviously inflamed.

"That's not good" he said. "Looks like you've got a pretty good transverse fracture along your left ulna"

The woman looked at him and asked in an aggravated tone "What are you? A fucking doctor?"

"No, I'm a fucking nurse" Ryan replied nonchalantly, continuing with his examination. He soon stopped.

"There's nothing I can do about it now. I don't have any medical supplies on me or anything. We should get out of the street and get you somewhere safe"

Ryan started moving down the street. The woman wasn't so quick to move. She just stood near the edge of the road, hesitating. He looked back at her and noticed she wasn't following. She just stood there, frozen in terror and cradled herself.

"What?" he asked

"You mean you want to go now? Tonight, with God knows what out there?"

"Look, if you want to stay here and get eviscerated, be my guest. But I want to go somewhere where I don't have to worry about what's hiding in the dark. Now lets get moving"

He took the woman by her hand and led her back the way they had come. Initially, she felt that she didn't need to be treated like a kid. But the warmth from his hand, as well as the physical contact, reassured her that she was safe and not alone. It was a feeling she clung to and hoped that it never let go.

It was quite a long trek for the two of them. They were both scared out of their minds but unwilling to let the dark fog blind their courage. Along the way Ryan had given the woman the flashlight as he found it too difficult to hold it and the shotgun at the same time. Uneasily, she juggled the light and the steel pipe in one hand.

She cut through the darkness with the light as they continued along the road way.

**III**

"Do you know where we're going?" Julia asked as she walked behind him and cradled her arm.

"Not really" he replied, following the path of the flashlight. "I'm just walking until we find somewhere safe. You ever been here before?" he asked her as they walked down Finney Street before turning back onto Ellroy.

"Yes. It's been a long time since I last came here but I remember this town. I was only a little girl. About five or six."

"Was it ever this messed up?" he inquired, gripping the shotgun tighter.

"No. It was never like this. It used to be a nice tourist town. Nice, quiet, beautiful scenery. But now… I…I can't imagine how it got like this"

The man stayed silent for a few moments.

"Do you know if this place has a hospital?"

Julia's heart leaped as a memory worked its way into her head. A hospital. That's where Aunt Lisa had worked. She had been, or still was a nurse. Maybe the hospital was where she would find some answers.

"Yeah. Yeah it does. But its not here."

"What?" he asked, confused and annoyed at the same time.

Julia furrowed her brow as she tried to think of their location in relation to the rest of the town.

"We're in Old Silent Hill. I think the hospital is in Central Silent Hill. We need to go over the bridge into Central" she said, pointing away from their location.

"Sounds like a plan" he said and then paused. "You remember all this from when you were a kid?"

Julia nodded in agreement.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive" the man replied.

From above the flashlight, Julia smiled a bit. She remembered from one of her college psych classes that laughter and smiling helped lighten a mood, releasing endorphins into the body.

"Okay, lead the way" he said.

"What if we run into anything else?" she asked. "We won't be able to see them"

"True" he said lowering the shotgun. "But we'll have a good idea of where they're at"

"How?"

He pointed to his MP3 player.

"I don't really understand it, but every time one of those things gets closer, this little gadget starts spewing white noise. I'm guessing your phone does the same right?"

Julia nodded.

"So all we have to do is keep our ears open, stop, blow away anything that we come across, and keep moving."

Julia looked at him uneasily. He noticed the look on her face and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know. I'm scared shitless myself. But if we can stick together we can get out of here. Besides, this" he said pointing at the gun "seems to do an awful lot of damage to those things. They also don't like getting hit with metal pipes"

Julia took a deep breath, reassured, and made a quick nod with her head. She gathered her courage.

"Alright, lets go."

They jogged as quickly as they could, unwilling to run without knowing full well what waited in the dark fog. Every once and awhile, the white noise of the MP3 player would go off and the man would stop. Instinctively, she pointed the flashlight into the dark in the same direction that he pointed his weapon. Then the sound would die out and they kept moving. Once or twice they had almost run into some walking monstrosities. They looked like the love children of a Swiss army knife and a testicle. The things made terrible nails-on-chalkboard noises with their blade legs as they walked along the ground. The man had dealt with them using surprising ease. Loud thunderous blasts ripped through the air and the creatures. Dark gore shot out of their bodies as the shotgun rounds tore into them.

They made horrible crying sounds as they squirmed on the pavement. Before leaving them to die, Julia pushed past the man and ran up to them, hitting them with the pipe she carried, the flashlight held with her wounded arm. She made loud angry grunts as the pipe impacted with the hard exoskeleton of the creatures. She almost lost herself to her terror and anger as she beat the things to a messy pulp on the pavement. The pipe made audible crunching sounds as it made contact with the creatures. The man came from behind and stopped her. She gasped as she was brought out of her trance.

"Okay, I think you got them" he said. "Feel better?"

"Much" she replied, breathing heavily.

They continued along Ellroy until making their way to the bridge that would lead them to Central Silent hill. Running the length of the bridge, the two of them noticed some sort of office thing sitting on the side of the bridge, metal stairs leading up to it. The man pointed at it.

"That's gotta be a control room for the bridge" he said, breathing heavily. "You need to take a break?" he asked Julia.

"No, no I'm fine" she replied, bending over and breathing heavily.

The man started to walk and Julia came to her senses.

"Alright, I do need a break" she called out to him, holding up an arm.

The man returned to her side, put her arm around his shoulder and helped her towards and up the stairs. Grabbing the door knob, he twisted it and opened the rickety aluminum door. The room was small, only a few feet by few feet. There was a control panel underneath a viewing window. Papers were strewn across the floor and console. A chair lay in the middle of the room on its side. The man went to it and turned it up before sitting Julia down on it. Then he flopped down to his butt on the floor, trying to catch his breath. He shut the door with his foot, grabbed the steel pipe and propped it against the door, barricading themselves in. The two of them sat in silence for some time while they tried to regain their composure.

**III**

Ryan finally started to break the silence.

"So" he said with a sigh. "What's you're name?"

Julia looked up at him.

"I'm Julia, Julia Garland. And you?"

"Ryan Simota" he said, wiping the sweat and blood from his forehead and jerking a thumb towards himself.

"Where are you from?" Julia asked.

"Pittsburgh" Ryan replied as he leaned his head back.

"Really?!" Julia asked in surprise. "I'm from Gettysburg"

"Small world" he chuckled. "What brings you to hell?"

Julia gave him a funny look as she let the joke pass right over her head.

"I came here looking for my Aunt Lisa. I haven't seen her since I was a kid."

"Hell of a reason to come to this place. Didn't she ever come and visit, you?" Ryan asked, looking out the window into the night.

"Well, thing is" she stammered, "…she kind of disappeared 17-18 years ago. And I want to know where she is. She lived here" she pointed to the floor, "in this town. So I figured that she would still be around here or at least have left something that told me where she went."

"Maybe she died" he said.

"I don't think so. If that had happened someone would have notified us."

Ryan looked at her and his expression turned grim.

"That's not how it always works out" he said. "At the hospital we tend to get Jane and John Does from time to time. Sometimes next of kin or other people can ID them and sometimes they can't. Or don't"

"Well, I still have to look for her" Julia replied.

He half smiled and said, "I admire your strength then. I don't think I would have the courage to do what you're doing right now. I've seen too many people die on the operating tables or die hooked up to machines to just leave my faith in anything but medicine"

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Julia mentally going over the man's words. He must have had a hard, sad life to be speaking like that. Ryan spoke up again.

"Do you even have a picture of your aunt we can go on?"

Julia looked at him with confusion.

"You want to help me find my aunt?" she asked.

"Yeah sure. Why not?", he shrugged "I mean, it's not like I'm going to let you go wandering around this town by your lonesome. So? No picture?"

"No" Julia shook her head. "But I remember exactly what she looks like. She sort of resembles me" she pointed to herself, "But a picture would definitely help in asking others about her."

Ryan sighed.

"So, Julia. What did your aunt do?"

"My aunt? She was a nurse."

"Ah, a woman after my own heart" Ryan replied with a small smile. "And what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a twenty-three year old waitress" she replied with a sigh.

"Huh, two years younger than me" he said with a hint of surprise.

"And what about you Ryan? Do you have a wife?"

He held up his left hand and she shined the light on it. There was no ring on his ring finger. The man was single.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Julia asked him before kicking herself mentally. She shouldn't have asked such personal questions.

He looked away from her and shook his head before answering.

"Afraid not. My life has just been too structured to allow for any sort of relationship. To be quite honest, it's kinda hurt me. I've always wanted to find that special someone, settle down, have some kids. But life as a nurse really takes its toll on you, you know?"

Julia didn't know, but she thought it would be best not to push the subject. She thought that it was really sad that he didn't have anyone to care for intimately. A sad, tough life in both work and play. It must have been hard on this man.

"What about you? Anyone back home that you crawl into bed with" Ryan asked her.

Julia looked at the floor and bit her lip. Her face turned a subtle shade of red.

"Nah" she said, tapping her foot on the floor, "I'm too busy working and going to school. Plus I tend to get hit on a lot by ugly old men at work and creepy college boys."

"Yeah, that'll happen" Ryan said, chewing on his finger nail. "Same thing happens to me sometimes"

She looked at him before continuing to learn about him.

"So, a male nurse huh? Looking at you that would be the last thing to crawl into my mind. You look more like you would fit in with the Marines or something"

"Well, looks can be deceiving. And we do live in a country of equal opportunity. Besides, I like helping people. Always have. Always will"

"That's very admirable of you" she said and noticed that Ryan was loading the shotgun. He inserted a few slugs and pumped the pump handle. It mad a loud "chik-chak" sound.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" she asked him as he handled the firearm.

"Truthfully? Boy scouts." He said with a smirk.

"You were in scouts?"

"No, but my brother was. He would go on shootouts every year with the troop. I was allowed to tag along. Just as long as I took the safety training."

The oddity of his answer made her question him, "Why would you do that and not be in Scouts?" Julia asked, pushing some of her hair out of her eyes. She reached into her pocket, grabbed a scrunchy and pulled her dirty blond hair back into a pony tail.

"Well, when you're a kid you tend not to pass up opportunities like that. At that age, you don't know how many other chances you'll get to fire a live gun"

"Men" she scoffed.

"Women" he shot back, offended.

"Testosterone" she fired back.

"Estrogen" he said glaring at her.

Soon, they both started to chuckle at the exchange. It helped lighten the mood, but not by much. They were soon brought back to the realization that they were still in a world of nightmares. A hard wind whipped at the small shack office they sat in. From somewhere outside a deep gurgling cry rang through the dark, making Ryan aim the shotgun at the door. His aim was steady and unwavering, like he was preparing for the worst. Julia looked at the exit with unease and trembled.

"What are they?" she asked

Ryan lowered the gun but didn't take his eyes off the door.

"Hell if I know. Demons, mutants, monsters, or something manifested from our own freaking nightmares. Take your pick. All I know is that they're out there" he pointed to the door, "…and we're in here. What they may or may not be does not change our situation one bit. They still die when you shoot them"

Ryan took a look around and noticed a few drawers were open and there were some small objects lying around. He spied a roll of duct tape lying underneath the control desk. Getting up, he went over to it. Julia rolled to the side as he stooped down to retrieve it.

"Let me see the flashlight" he said, extending his hand with the palm up.

She handed it to him and he went right to work, tearing off strips of duct tape. He took the tape and applied it to the flashlight.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Freeing up your hands" he said as he wrapped the flashlight around the barrel of the gun. "Start looking through these draws. Their might be some useful stuff lying around"

They both went to work, going through each of the small drawers. There was nothing of importance in the first few draws. Just some condoms, old pamphlets, magazines, instruction manuals and a bottle of Jack Daniels of all things. Then Julia found something that made her heart jump.

"Ryan, check this out!"

Ryan turned around and stared strait into the business end of a 9mm handgun. He leapt back and fell to the ground.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WOMAN!" he yelled at her.

She lowered the gun, setting it down on the console.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry" she said, backing away from the gun.

Ryan got up and grabbed the gun in is hand. He walked to Julia and pushed it to her chest. She grabbed it and held it in her hands. For something so small, it was pretty heavy. She looked up Ryan. He was shaking.

"Lesson one" he said holding up his index finger, "Never, ever point a gun at something you don't intend to kill. You're gonna give a man a heart attack."

"I said I was sorry" Julia replied, quivering.

"It's alright. Man, who the hell leaves shit like this lying around?" Ryan asked as Julia handled the 9mm, turning it over in her hands. "Where did you find it?"

Julia pointed to a small locker near the floor.

"Any ammo?" Ryan asked

"What's ammo?"

"Ammunition, magazines, clips. You know? Bullets" he asked, rolling his hands in a "is this getting though to you" gesture.

Julia stooped down and looked into the locker. She reached in and found a few small, heavy boxes with the words 9mm written on them.

"That's it" Ryan said. "Take it, and hope you don't have to use it" he said.

"No way" Julia said, pushing the gun away. "I've never fired a gun before"

"Look, its easy" Ryan said as he pointed to each part of the pistol in her hands. "Barrel, trigger, grip, breach, hammer, slide, and safety. You press this little button and the magazine pops out. Then you slam in a fresh one. All you have to do is point and shoot. And it will probably be a lot more effective than that pipe"

Julia looked at the metal cudgel lying by the door.

"Should we ditch it?" she asked.

"No, bring it along. It won't run out of ammo"

Julia cocked an eyebrow as Ryan walked towards the door and grabbed the pipe. He turned back to her.

"Ready for this? We go, look for what we have to and get the hell out of town. Alright?"

Fear gripped Julia's chest as Ryan pointed to the door. Up until this point, she thought that they would just stay in the control room and wait it out. Now that she had to go back outside and face hell, she didn't know if she could do it. Ryan noticed her unease and tried to calm her down.

"Look, just stick by me and we'll make it through this. I promise. Say a prayer, count to ten, take a breath."

She looked into his caring eyes and relaxed a bit. Julia took a big breath and let it out. She gave Ryan a stern nod and gripped the pistol in her hands. They exited the control room and walked back down to the bridge. They had to make it to the hospital. It would be their sanctuary. Julia just hoped that things would get better before they got worse. If she only knew what was waiting for them.


	5. Last living souls

From behind him, Julia held onto the pistol in her hands. The cool metal of the weapon had already started to warm to her touch. She was still a bit uncomfortable about handling the deadly weapon, but was relieved at the prospect of being able to take out the monsters that roamed the street with better ease. With a belt that had been lying in the control room, Ryan had made an impromptu sling that allowed her to carry the pipe on her back. The weight of the cudgel tugged at her back as she watched him go to the door and open it. A hollow metal sound echoed out as the door creaked open.

Pointing the shotgun and flashlight attached to it into the darkness, Ryan swept the firearm from side to side. When he was sure that the coast was clear he looked back at Julia.

"You ready?" he asked her

In the low light, she gave him a firm and confident nod of her head. She wasn't scared anymore. Or at least she couldn't afford to be.

"Awesome" he said as he eyed the pistol in her hand. "Just stick close. And whatever you do, don't point that thing at me"

"I got it" she said.

With that, the two of them headed down the steps, the metal making creaking rusty sounds that only old, worn metal could under pressure. Soon they were both back on the bridge that would lead them into Central Silent Hill. They cautiously made their way across the rest of the bridge without any confrontation from the creatures in the dark. Ryan was taking no chances. His body was ridged and on edge. He pointed the weapon into the foggy dark with the uncanny resemblance of someone who had had military experience. Julia couldn't help but think that something in the last few minutes had made him change. Something that had helped him fine tune his senses to the ever present danger around them.

It wasn't long before they reached Central.

"Shit" she heard him breathe to himself.

"What is it?" she asked stepping to his right side, the pistol shaking a little in her hand.

"Check it out" he said, aiming the shotgun's light at a street sign.

It read "Chrichton St"

Julia gave him a funny look.

"Yeah. And?"

"This bridge ends in a T junction. I don't know whether we should go left or right"

"Then we'll just pick something. This town isn't that big. If we pick the wrong direction then we can just turn around and go back"

He lowered the shotgun and turned to her.

"Getting lost isn't what I'm worried about" he said, starring past her into the dark.

"I know" she said, understanding that running into any other surprises was not what he had in mind.

Without any further deliberation they turned left and started walking north on Chrichton. Several yards later and they were still walking the long stretch of road. Nothing had come out of the fog to terrorize them and Ryan was starting to feel pretty good. Too good in fact.

"I don't like this" he said as his grip on the shotgun tightened. "You'd think we would have run into something by now"

As if on cue, the MP3 player and cell phone started to go off. Instantly they were both back to back, weapons trained on the space in front of them and sweeping the area for anything unusual.

"Where is it?" Julia asked. Panic was starting to set in. Seeing something wasn't as bad as not being able to see it.

"Shhh" Ryan said. "Listen"

Julia heard nothing at first. Then something faint started to register. It was soft, definitely in a pattern of some sort. The sound was almost like a low beating. Like something was hitting air.

WOOSH., "AAAAAAAAEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIII!"

"GET DOWN" Ryan yelled as something flew over their heads. Whatever it was it had been close. Way too close.

Pointing the shotgun into the air, Ryan searched for the thing. Julia couldn't believe it. There were monsters in the air now.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me" she said, pointing her gun towards the sky. "What the hell was that thing?"

"Don't know. All I could make out was skin and wings. We've got to get off this street, now"

As he finished the sentence, the white noise and cell phone rumbling came back, strong. Ryan had to pull the plug out of his ear it was so intense. Whatever was causing their machines to go off, it had to be pretty close. Fear welled up inside Ryan's chest as he slowly turned around, breathing heavily, and aimed the shotgun down the street, illuminating it. Julia's eyes widened in horror as she saw what was ahead of them.

There had to be hundreds of the things. The weird dog monsters that Ryan had seen before, walking things with flesh strait jackets making gurgling noises, more of the giant meat monsters, bloated round walking things and some other creatures that, to both of their terror, were dragging bloody corpses. Trails of fluid spilled everywhere. A tremendous stench of rot and decay filled the air and mixed with the blood, creating a cocktail the nose wouldn't soon forget. They all looked like they were minding their own business, not even aware of the two human's watching them. Ryan chocked down vomit that had welled up in his throat while Julia tried desperately not to gag loudly.

"Not good" Ryan said, backing up but keeping the shotgun aimed at the crowd of living rigamortis specimens.

"Jesus, how many of those things are there?" Julia asked backing away from the creatures.

She stepped backward and her foot landed on something. "Crick-Crash". She looked down at pile of broken glass at her feet and then back at the creatures. Every single one of them looked up in unison with whatever could be identified as their heads. Their full attention was now on the two outsiders standing before them. For several seconds, the two parties just stared at each other. Then the closest creature, some sort of pus ridden, bladed cadaver came charging at Ryan.

Ba-BOOM

Two slugs tore into the humanoid blade thing as it fell to the pavement, screaming and thrashing. That was enough incentive for the other creatures to start moving towards Ryan and Julia. An army of the un-natural was now heading strait for them. And they were all hungry for their blood.

**III**

"DON'T LOOK BACK, JUST KEEP RUNNING!" Ryan yelled to Julia as they made their way south on Crichton.

They ran in dead sprints, their shoes making quick "slap-slap" noises on the pavement. Ryan somehow found the strength to aim the light and gun ahead of them to guide their way properly. He had no intention of stopping because stopping could very well mean their own gruesome deaths. And he had no intention of being eaten. Failing to fight the urge, Julia looked back and saw the creatures a ways off but gaining on them. She had no idea how many of them there were. She wondered if running was the best course of action as she turned back to Ryan.

"We can pick them off" she said, running and waving her pistol behind her.

Without even looking at her, Ryan said "We don't know how many there are. We can't afford to waste the ammo. Just. Run!"

They kept running for several blocks. Ryan had no clue how far away the things were, but he could hear them in the distance. They had to be at least forty or fifty feet away. That knowledge alone was enough to keep his legs moving forward. Somewhere in the distance, he started to make out a large building. He had to squint through the fog, but he could almost make it out. Was it? It had to be.

"Oh my god! It's the hospital!" he said. "We can duck in there and hope they leave us alone!"

"What if they don't" Julia asked, struggling to keep up with him.

Her question was met with silence. Julia whipped her head around to see where Ryan was referring too. The great grey building grew in the distance, becoming larger the closer they came to it. Something deep inside the two compelled them to run faster. Against all odds and fighting exhaustion, they made their way to Koontz street, monster's in tow. A few more feet and they were at the front of the building, a sign, "Alchemilla Hospital" briefly glowed as the flashlight traveled across it.

Running up to the wooden doors, Ryan grabbed at the handles. His heart stopped when they wouldn't budge.

"Damn, it's locked!" he almost yelled, looking behind him.

The monsters weren't far away, within two minutes, they would get to them. Ryan dropped to his knees and started searching the ground. Julia watched him in frightened confusion as he dug through the stones and dirt of the surrounding sidewalk. She could hear him muttering "Key, gotta be a key somewhere" over and over. If they couldn't get in the building, they were screwed.

**III**

"Shit, shit, shit…" he kept saying as he searched the ground in vain.

From somewhere above him, Ryan heard the sound of glass breaking. He looked up to see Julia with her pistol in her hand. She had smashed a window out using the butt of the gun. Reaching through, she undid the lock and yanked open the door. Ryan got up off the ground and they rushed inside. Once in, they shut the door and locked it again.

"The door! Grab something to barricade the door!" he yelled at her as he braced his back against the wooden entrance and prepared for the monsters to ram it.

Julia took a quick look around and she spied an old wooden desk on wheels. Rushing over to it, she set the pistol down on top of it. Julia then used her lower body strength and good arm to push the heavy piece of furniture towards Ryan. When it was close enough, she grabbed the pistol as Ryan got up. He started to lift it, his muscles strained as he tipped it over. With a loud grunt, he let it fall to the floor with a BANG and shoved it towards the door. Aiming the guns at the entrance, they took a few steps back and waited for the creatures to collide with the doors. A few seconds ticked by, then a few minutes. Still they waited.

Nothing came for them. Everything was completely quiet. Even their machines had stopped making noise. The only sound came from their labored breathing. Finally snapping out of their fear induced trance, they lowered their weapons and moved away from the entrance and into the hospital.

"Well… that was… anti-climatic" Ryan said as he looked at the door, panting.

"You sound pretty happy about that" she said in a condescending manner "Almost like you wanted something to happen"

"Oh yeah, I'm so happy I wanna fucking puke" he said as he stared at the door and gripped the shotgun.

Julia turned around to look at their surroundings.

"Oh, wow" she said.

Ryan turned around to see what she was looking at. As dark as it may have been outside, it was surprisingly less so inside the hospital. Still, the added advantage of the flashlight attached to the barrel of the shotgun provided even more light. From what they could make out it was an old building. It wasn't like the more modern hospital that Ryan was used to working in. The entire area was worn and looked like it was falling apart. Dust clung to everything and the wood of the waiting room that they stood in was worn and creaking. There was a musky smell in the air that was most likely coming from an old red carpet that was tacked along the floor. Aside from the noise that they had just created, it was disturbingly quiet in the building. The whole building was completely deserted.

"Home sweet home" Ryan said as he eyed the area they stood in. "Man this place looks like shit"

"What should we do now?" she asked him.

"Well I'll tell you what I'm not doing. I'm not going back out there", he said, pointing to the doors. "Besides, we're safe in here"

"Then what do you suggest?"

"I say we wait it out here until the morning comes then we get the hell out of this town"

"And in the meantime?" she asked, cradling her arm.

"In the meantime, I'm gonna take care of that arm and then I guess we'll look for anything that might tell us where your aunt went." Ryan replied.

"Well then, where to?" Julia asked.

"I honestly have no clue" Ryan replied as he started to walk near a receptionist's area.

"How could you not know? You work in a hospital." Julia said as she wiped sweat and grime from her face. The pipe strapped to her back padded softly against her hoodie.

"That's right. I work in _a_ hospital. Not this one" he said as he hopped over the receptionist's counter and started to pull through the drawers. "Didn't you ever come here as a kid?"

"No, I mostly just spent time with my aunt Lisa. There were never any "take your niece to work" days when I was a kid".

She watched as he ducked down and continued to look through the drawers.

"Ryan? What are you looking for?" she asked as she plopped down on a seat in the waiting room.

"I'll know when I find it" he said, pulling open the drawers and cabinets. "A few of these are locked and the rest are completely empty…oh wait." He said as he found something of interest.

"What'd you find" Julia asked as she quickly got up from the chair that she had been sitting in.

"Check it out" Ryan said, pointing his light at a piece of paper on the table.

Julia looked at the paper on the table and understood that Ryan had found an entire map of the hospital. This would make navigating the building a lot easier. He went back to the locked draws and tried to pry them open. For such old pieces of furniture, the drawers were firmly held in place. Ryan got up and held out his hand toward Julia.

"Let me borrow that pipe for a second. Lets see what else is here"

Julia let the pipe and its harness slide off her shoulder and into her hand. She then handed it to Ryan who started to pry on the drawers with it. A few of them opened only to reveal worthless items like prescription pads, some pill bottles and a few medical supplies like syringes and scalpels. It was no wonder why these things would be under lock and key. Then one of the drawers opened to reveal something that Ryan wasn't expecting.

"What the?" he said as he grabbed the small package and put it on the desk.

They both looked at the package. It was about the size of a half a loaf of bread, wrapped in a strong plastic and stark white. There was a small label on the package with the words "W. Claudia" on it. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Ryan made a small tear in the package. The contents spilled out a little bit onto the desk. It was a white powder.

"Drugs?" Julia asked.

"Looks like it" Ryan said as he put his pinky finger into the small pile on the desk and brought a small film of the stuff to his mouth.

"What are you doing?" she protested. "You don't even know what that stuff is"

"Relax. Whatever it is, this small amount isn't going to do anything to me"

With that, he tasted the chemical. Licking his lips a few times, Ryan shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to Julia.

"Is it cocaine?" she asked him.

"I don't know what it is. But what I want to know is why they would leave something like this in a drawer where anyone could get to it"

"What do you mean?" she asked him, not entirely grasping the concept.

"It's like this" he began to explain to her, "…some hospitals keep certain illegal drugs on hand in case they need them for very rare, very extreme cases of patients. Drugs like that are usually kept under heavy lock and key. Not left like this" he looked at the name on the package. "Hmm, 'W. Claudia'. Wonder what that means. Someone's name? Or is it a street name for the drug?"

"What does this mean" Julia asked as fear was replaced with unbridled caution.

Ryan shook his head.

"I don't know. But I'll worry about it later. Right now, lets take care of that arm.

**III**

They walked down the hall, past the receptionist desk and an office. Near the end of the hall was a door that, according to the map, would lead to a stair well. However, the door was locked. Frustrated, Ryan turned their attention to the examination room and the adjoining medicine room. Julia cautiously opened the door for Ryan as he pointed the shotgun into the room. After making sure it was clear, he ushered her to follow him into the room. Closing the door behind her, she looked around the place and saw that it was nothing more than a boring examining room. There were a few cabinets, some posters about proper eating and exercise as well as an anatomical skeleton that was propped in the corner. That thing had given her a brief scare when she had initially seen it. An examining table sat near the wall.

"I'll be right back" Ryan said. "Just need to grab some supplies"

With that, he disappeared into the adjoining room. In three minutes he came back with some wooden splints, gauze, heavy duty bandages, tongue depressors, and a small bottle of pain relievers. He set the items down on the examining table and beckoned Julia to sit down. She complied and started to get an uneasy feeling. It was the feeling that one gets when they know that they are going to go through something very, very painful. Ryan gently took her injured arm in his hands. Julia winced as a stabbing pain shot through her arm and chest. Ryan carefully rolled up the sleeve of her hoody to get a look at her arm. It was a little more swollen and puffy than it had been a few minutes ago. Ryan looked at Julia and she stared right back at him.

"Julia, this is a pretty bad break. The bone will heal wrong and your arm won't function like it should. If I _don't_ _set the bone_, then you'll have a lot of troubles later in life. That is if we survive this anyway."

Julia stared at him like he was crazy. He seriously wasn't suggesting what she thought she was suggesting.

"I hate you" she said with a quiver in her voice.

"I know. But this will be just like tearing off a band aid"

Julia took in a breath as he took her arm. With a free hand he gave her the tongue depressors. She looked at them, not knowing what he wanted her to do.

"I'm not going to lie to you. This is going to hurt, a lot. Bite down on these."

She put the small pieces of wood in her mouth. She started to breathe heavily.

"I'll go on three alright?" he asked as he took her arm and prepared to set it. "One…"

Before she could even react, he had pulled on her arm and set the bone back into place. Julia clenched down on the tongue depressors, a few of them snapping under the pressure. They soon fell out of her mouth as she cried out, tears welled in her eyes. Her entire arm felt like someone had put broken glass in and then stepped on her arm. She stared at Ryan as he started to put the splints in place and wrap her arm.

"You said on three!" she yelled at him.

Without even looking at her, Ryan continued his work.

"If I had gone on three, you would have tensed up. Then it would have hurt more" he said in a non-caring tone. "Sometimes you have to hurt to heal"

He undid the top of the pill bottle and sniffed it, checking to make sure the medication had not expired. He then dumped out three pills into his hand and handed them to her. She took them and choked them down.

"You're a bastard. You know that?" she said, fighting the pain in her arm.

"Yeah, well you'll thank me when we get you to a proper hospital"

"Where do we go from here?"

Ryan set the map on the table next to them and looked at it. After going over a few of the areas he found something that made him smile. Julia noticed this and looked down where he was looking. He had been looking at the map of the second floor. His index finger rested on a space that read "Nurse Center"

"I think this is going to be a good place to start looking for your aunt, Juila"

From within her, a sense of hope began to grow.

**Author's note:**

**Happy Halloween! I'm sending this in on 10/31/2007, just a few hours shy of the month of November. Hope this reignites the mood for the spooky holiday that may only be dying down right now.**

**Well, five chapters in and I think I have something good on my hands. I want to thank everyone who has been reading the story thus far and those who have been kind enough to leave their comments. If you want, check out some of my other stuff. I hope you'll continue to stick with me while I continue to churn out more chapters. Expect to see some familiar creatures, a trip or two to the otherworld, some new clues and some even bigger revelations. Oh, and someone gets their hand on a very nifty weapon**.

When certain medications expire, they give off a strong vinegar like odor.


	6. Porcelian

When they were ready, Ryan and Julia exited the medicine room and walked into the hallway of the first floor. Ryan walked out in front, keeping his eyes and ears open for any anomalies. Julia trailed slightly behind him. The pain in her arm was excruciating, but she knew that it wouldn't last long. The pain killers she had been given would kick in sooner or later. She grasped her pistol with her good hand and followed Ryan. As safe as the hospital seemed, she was pretty unnerved by how quiet it was. Except for themselves and the things that roamed the streets, the entire town was deserted. Julia could deal with being safe. But being alone was a whole other story. She cringed as memories of the movie _28 days later_ filled her head.

The lonely man, waking up and finding everyone gone. Walking the vacant streets alone. Calling out for anyone who would listen. Their predicament was a stark representation of the movie's protagonist. It gave her an uncomfortable feeling. Then the memories of the films monsters sprang into her head, making her imagination run wild. In a few short steps she was walking right next to Ryan, afraid to let him out of her sight and thus be left all alone in the dark. Ryan noticed her quickened pace.

"Something on your mind?" he asked, glancing over to her.

"It's just creepy is all, being alone in a place like this"

Ryan nodded his head to himself, understanding her feelings.

"I know what you mean. This isn't exactly what I had in mind when coming here. It would be nice if there were a few more people with us."

He turned to look down the hallway. The lack of noise had just become a bit more noticeable to him and a chill ran down his spine.

"I don't like being alone either. But man, what is going on in this place? I mean, how did a town like this get so completely messed up?"

"You're asking me?" she said as she walked.

Even though their destination was one floor up, Ryan was compelled to check any door that they came across. Each time he reached for a knob his heart started to pound in anticipation. He expected something to leap out of the shadows and attack him. He went to each of the doors and tried them. Most, if not all the doors were completely incapable of being opened. One after the other, they were either locked or the knobs had been broken off. Ryan's fear gave way to frustration as he was denied entrance from each of the doors. A storeroom and three offices remained closed to them. The only door that would budge led to the kitchen.

Julia curiously followed Ryan into the room. The light shone on the area, revealing chrome stove and table tops. A quick look around the area gave away nothing. All the cabinets and drawers were empty. There were no utensils, pots or pans, cooking supplies or any other indication that the kitchen had used in a long time. Even the freezer in the area was devoid of food. Defeated, they left the kitchen and continued their search.

"Lame" Ryan said as he closed the door behind them.

"I know. I could have gone for something to eat too." she replied as they made their way to the end of the hall. Her stomach grumbled at the prospect of eating something.

The hall ended and they were left facing an elevator and a set of stairs leading down. Julia started to head towards the stairs when Ryan stepped past her.

"Let's just leave that for later" he said blocking her way.

"Why?"

He pulled out the map and showed her the basement area.

"Cause I don't really wanna go down there" he said, pointing to a little square that read "Morgue"

"Fair enough" she said. "But if this elevator doesn't work, we're going down. Besides, this place is deserted. What could possibly happen?"

"You seriously don't want me to answer that" Ryan said as he walked to the elevator.

Swallowing and then exhaling a breath, he pushed the button on the wall next to the elevator doors. Within seconds there was a pleasant "ding" sound and the two doors parted into the walls.

"Yes!" he said in self satisfaction.

Julia followed him into the car, just as the doors were closing again. Looking at the inside panel, she spied the buttons that would lead them to the other floors of the building. Hesitating, she turned to Ryan.

"Which floor was the nurse's center on?"

Ryan pulled out the map. He began to trace it with his finger.

"Uh…second" he said.

Julia hit the button and the elevator car started to shake. So the place still had some electricity. That was at least a little good news. If they were lucky they could get a TV working and find out what the hell was going on. Julia turned around as she heard Ryan slump to the wall of the car. He was breathing heavily and looked drained. He was also holding his head and trembling.

"What's up? Headache?" she asked

"Yeah. My head has been hurting ever since the crash. I think I might have a really minor concussion. I keep spacing out and hallucinating. Like some stuff is just a mirage or something. It's like my mind is playing tricks on me. Plus, I… I just…it's, I don't know how much more of this I can take you know? Walking into your own worst nightmare just takes its toll on your mind. This is all just getting to be a bit much to process."

"Yeah, I know" she said, looking at her watch. "But hey. Sunrise is in another seven hours. We can make it through the night and then go for help"

She put a hand on his arm to reassure him. He looked at her and she understood he was grateful for the sentiment. They gave each other weak smiles while Julia turned a mild shade of red.

"You'd think with all this freaky shit going on, there would at least be some news coverage. Something to let others know what's going on in this town"

"Maybe something is keeping that from happening" she said.

"Like what?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know. Bad power lines, bad reception or bad internet connection. But if someone read a news story that started off with 'Hell overtakes small American town' would you bother staying tuned?"

"That's a good point. But it still doesn't answer why this whole place went into the gutter"

**III**

The elevator car came to a stop and another "ding" sound rang out. The doors opened and they each aimed their weapons into the dark of the 2nd floor hallway. Just like the first floor, it was quiet. They slowly made their way out of the elevator and the doors slammed shut behind them. Julia and Ryan started to walk down the hallway, passing by several rooms and doors. Ryan noticed that she was looking at them and then turned to look at him. Her non-verbal cues were easily readable.

"We'll check em out later" he said, not faltering. "Right now, I think some of your answers are in this Nurse's Center"

"Alright" she said, accepting the decision.

Several feet away, they turned a corner and saw three doors. One right in front of them which would lead to the other hallway of the second floor. One to their left with the words 'Operating Prep Room' stenciled on a plaque. And the last one to their right that read 'Nurse's center'.

"Bingo" Julia said as she stepped forward and opened the door.

It creaked open with a loud, grinding noise of wood on metal. The sound made Julia's skin crawl as she was reminded of old horror movies. They walked in and closed the door. Moving the flashlight about the area they saw that it had a large oak desk with a blank chalk board behind it. Cabinets with glass windows lined the walls. The light revealed that they were filled with medications as well as medical supplies. A group of four lockers were along the south wall and there was another door. Where it led was anyone's guess.

Walking over to the desk, Ryan started going through the drawers and folders that were around the area. Julia stared at him from a few feet away, rubbing her arm. The drugs had started to kick in and the pain was dying out.

"What are you looking for?" she asked, taking a step towards him.

"Staff records, a log, pictures of the staff or personal information. Records like those would be kept here" he answered, not looking up from the papers.

"You sure?" she asked doubtfully.

"Pretty sure" he said as he thumbed through the small piles of paper that he had found.

From within the dark, Julia could hear Ryan talk to himself as he skimmed the papers. As he went through the papers he was mumbling off names and numbers and how this would all be easier if everything was in alphabetical order.

"Anything I can do?" she asked hoping that she could do more than just stand around and wait, looking at the floor.

"Naw, I'm almost through here" he said with a light shake of his head.

After a few more turns of paper and Ryan made a small gasp, drawing Julia's attention. Her head snapped up expectantly. He looked at her and made a noticeable, approving look with his face.

"You were right. You do look a lot like her" he said as he pointed to a file that was on the desk.

In less than a second, Julia was at his side looking at his discovery. Her heart fluttered in her chest as a file photo of her aunt stared right back at her. Lisa Garland was filmed from the chest up. Her dirty blonde hair hung past her neck and a nurse's cap was adorned on her head. Wearing the same cream colored blouse and red sweater that Julia remembered, the woman gave a big happy grin in the photo. Julia smiled as she reached down to touch it, her hand quivering. Tears of happiness came to her eyes as she looked at her aunt for the first time in years. Julia couldn't believe that she was finally getting some answers. Ryan reached for the picture and tore it from the file. He handed it to her.

"There. Now you have a picture to go by. She's real pretty by the way"

"Thank you." Julia said as she wiped away tears from her eyes, sniffed and hugged Ryan, giving a quick, strong squeeze. "Is there anything else?"

"Let's see" he said as he traced the page. "Birthday, date she was hired, blood type, yadda, yadda, yadda, occupation outline, blah, blah, blah. Oh, here we go! Phone number and home address. 78995, Simmons St."

"Great. I can go check out her house!" Julia said, building her hopes.

"Whoa, slow down" Ryan said. "First things first. Lets survive this night then we'll worry about taking a trip to your aunt's place."

Julia didn't like how he was bursting her bubble. But he was right. Their survival took precedence over anything else.

"Was there anything else?" Julia asked. "Like, any information about what's happening here or where she might have gone? Anything?"

"No, just her file. But we can look around some more. Maybe we might find something else", he said, hefting the shotgun.

His face twisted with confusion as he looked down at the remaining file. A man in a suit stared up at him. He was an older gentleman and had a serious look on his face.

"Hmm, Dr Kaufman?" he said, looking at the profile. "Why would a doctor's profile be in a nurse's station? And right behind your aunt's to boot"

A sound from somewhere in the room made Ryan grab the shotgun and point it into the dark. From around his neck, he could hear white noise coming from his ear buds. Julia pointed her weapon in another direction.

"What?" she asked, her mood shifting to fear once more.

"Shhh" he said, putting a finger to his lips. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

Julia listened for a few seconds before she heard what Ryan was talking about. At the other end of the room was a sound that was unmistakably human. It sounded like gasping or moaning. The feminine noise emanated from a rack of coats near the lockers. Whoever it was, she sounded like she was frightened or cold. Cautiously, Ryan inched towards the coats. The closer he got the more the gasping, moaning sound increased. He got close enough to see that there had been a person in the room this entire time.

"Oh, my god" he said as the realization hit him. "There's a survivor in here"

The woman's back was to them, but Ryan knew he was staring at the back of one of the hospital's nurses. The woman was dressed in a very dirty, old fashioned hospital outfit and hat. She had incredibly long and attractive legs and he could see that she was twitching. Her skin was also incredibly pale.

"_Must be cold or something_" Ryan thought as he moved closer.

The woman must have been scared or traumatized not to notice the two of them. She didn't turn around to face Ryan as he shinned the light on her.

"Miss?" he said as he reached toward her. "Miss, are you alright? Our cars broke down right outside of Silent Hill. Something is seriously wrong with this town. Do you know what's going on? Where is everyone else?"

"Is she alright?" Julia asked him.

"I don't know?" he said glancing back at Julia before as he touched the woman's shoulder lightly.

Once his hand made contact with her, he yanked it away in a quick motion. The woman was filthy. Ryan didn't know what she had been rolling in but her shoulder had made a soft "squish" sound when he touched it. He was starting to like this less and less. Something was totally wrong with this woman. She started to twitch and turn around. In the blink of an eye, she whipped around and lashed out at Ryan with her hand. Julia yelped as the nurse's arm smacked against the shotgun, sending it clattering to the floor. Something sharp cut into Ryan's arm and he stumbled back. The woman plowed right into him and they both fell to the floor in a heap.

From where the shotgun lay on the floor, its light pointed at Ryan and the nurse that was on top of him. Julia stared in horror as it thrashed on top of him. It was covered in blood which contrasted the once white outfit. Ryan was trying desperately to hold both of its arms away from him. She could see that it held a long scalpel in its hand and was forcing it towards Ryan's throat. He struggled to keep her away. But perhaps most disturbing of all was the nurse's face.

There was no face. All that it was was just layers of skin and possibly bandages. Blood seeped from the inhuman thing's face as it twitched its head. The twitching of its head was unreal, like it was a rabid dog. Julia swore she heard vertebrae grinding together as the thing's head jerked from side to side, inching closer to Ryan's face. Julia was frozen in terror as the nurse wrestled with Ryan.

"GET IT OFF ME!" Ryan yelled out. His scream broke Julia out of her trance and she aimed the pistol at the nurse.

Julia was hit with a new wave of fear. She had never fired a gun. That coupled with the fact that she couldn't even get a clean shot on the thing, made her more scared than she had ever been. She moved the pistol up and down slightly, trying to aim the gun correctly. She didn't want to hit Ryan. He looked over at her and noticed that she was hesitating.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! SHOOT IT!" he screamed as he fought off the thing enough to sucker punch it. The nurse growled and continued to trash on top of him.

Julia aimed the pistol and her finger tightened around the trigger.

**III**

"OH GOD, IT'S TOUCHING ME!" Ryan screamed as the nurse got a hold of his arm.

For as dainty as the thing had looked, it was impossibly strong. It took everything he had to keep it from getting its weapon any closer to his throat. Ryan looked to his right and saw that the flashlight was creating one morbid shadow puppet against the wall. If he wasn't certain that he was about to die at this moment, he'd almost confuse the shape with two people having sex.

He looked to his left and saw that Julia was aiming her 9mm in his direction. To be more specific, she was aiming the gun at him, with shaking hands, _with her eyes closed_.

"What the fu…?" he said and scrunched his eyes shut.

POP, POP, POP, POP…!

Several rounds tore into the nurse. It twitched violently as the bullets hit it. Several nailed it in the chest. But it was the final round that drilled into its head that finished it off. It screamed as it was thrown off him and a small cloud of red settled to the floor next to him. Breathing heavily, Ryan jumped up and snatched the shotgun from the floor. He then ran over to the thing on the floor and unloaded several shells into the fallen creature. The room exploded with sound as the slugs were ejected from the barrel. They impacted the nurse, blowing open its chest cavity and head. He knew he was done when he heard the dry click of an empty chamber. The form of the nurse lay on the ground in silence. Dark splashes of read were everywhere and he was pretty sure that he had shot it all the way through to the floor. Several holes punched clean through the creature. Ryan breathed heavily for a few seconds to let the adrenaline in his system wear off. Then Ryan turned to Julia who was gaping at him in wide eyed horror, her pistol pointed at the ground. She looked at him and knew he was very, very angry.

"Did you just shoot at me with your eyes closed?!" he shouted at her.

"Well it worked didn't it?!" she replied.

Ryan grabbed the pistol from her and held it out in front of him in a demonstrating manner.

"Aim and shoot!" he said, handing it back to her.

They each started to reload their weapons. Ryan slid slug after slug into the shotgun and loaded it with a pump of the handle. Julia had ejected the magazine and with Ryan's help, had put in several new bullets. She slapped the clip back into the gun and the slide slid back into place.

"How much ammo you got left?" he asked.

"Uh…plenty" she said, looking at the several boxes she still had on her. "You?"

He looked into his pockets and said, "Shit, I'm down to twenty nine slugs. This thing only holds seven at a time." He said referring to the shotgun.

"Where do we go now?" Julia asked, wiping her brow and glancing over at the dead monster.

"As far away from here as we can get. This place probably has more of those things crawling around here" he said looking at where she was looking. "Lets go"

"It was a nurse. How the hell did it get like that?" Julia asked, pointing her pistol to the dead body on the ground.

"Who cares? Lets go, NOW!"

They ran to the door that they didn't come through and wound up in the other hallway of the 2nd floor. Ryan swept the light back and forth to search the area. What it fell on made his jaw drop to the floor. Staring back at them were at least ten or eleven more of the nurse monsters. They were all milling around the hall. But the second they light was cast on them, they all looked at its source. Instantly they all started twitching their heads and walking towards Ryan and Julia. The sound of their high-heeled shoes resonated in the hallway. The nurses were all armed with a variety of bladed weapons.

"Oh come on!" Ryan said, exasperated. "Give me a fucking break!"

From the other direction of the hall came the sound of metal scraping across the floor and a sound like water hitting something solid. Ryan turned the light towards the sounds and stared in horror at the monstrosity walking towards him. It was like the nurse creatures except it was a bit taller, bleeding profusely from everywhere on its body, and dragging a large ax across the floor. With its free hand it reached towards them in desperation. It took the ax and swung it through the air, smashing it into the wall with a loud, audible crunch of wood. Splinters flew through the air.

"RAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRRR!" she screamed at the two of them.

Julia turned back and grabbed at the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. They were boxed into the hallway. And they were going to die.


	7. Parallel Universe

"The door won't open!" Julia screamed as she tugged at the knob.

She looked back to see Ryan aiming the shotgun at the closest monster. The group of nurses were several feet away, but they would get to them within seconds. Ryan was more concerned with the big one coming from the other direction. Blood oozed from unseen sources on its body. It made horrible dripping sounds as it fell off her and onto the floor. The Blood Nurse raised its ax again, ready to swing. The others were closing in as well. Just then, the Blood Nurse swung its ax in a long arch towards Ryan and Julia. Ryan's eyes widened.

"DUCK!" he screamed as he pulled Julia to the ground.

The sound of something parting the air went over his head. Ryan was terrified when he realized that the ax was inches away from taking the crown of his head off. Instead the ax connected with one of the "normal" nurse monsters. It hit the thing in its chest and an awful crunch sound of bones breaking echoed in the hall. It screamed out as it was thrown into the wall where Julia had just been standing. The ax and the creature became lodged in the wall as the Blood Nurse jerked at the weapon, attempting to retrieve it. It wouldn't budge and the monster tried in vain to pry it from the splintered mess of wood and flesh.

Without hesitating, Ryan aimed his shotgun at the Blood Nurse's stomach. He squeezed the trigger and a point blank slug ripped into the creature, propelling it back. But something happened that Ryan didn't expect. The Blood Nurse didn't fall down. It didn't even drop to its knees. It wasn't possible. A round like that should have put the creature down for good. There was no way it could just shake something like that off. It just looked down at the gaping, ragged wound in its abdomen and then looked back at Ryan. Even without a visible face, he knew that it was extremely angry.

"Come on!" Julia said as she was pulling him off the ground.

They ran past the Blood Nurse as it went to the wall for its weapon. They had to act fast while they still had an opening. Leading him by the hand, Julia spied a door that had the words "Stair well" painted on it. They ran to it and she grabbed at the knob. Her heart jumped when it actually started to turn in her hand. She put some force against the door but was shocked to find that it wouldn't budge. She looked at Ryan as he pointed his shotgun down the hallway and unloaded five rounds. A few of them hit the nurses, making at least one of them fall to the ground. There were just too damn many of them.

"What are you waiting for?!" he yelled over the gun blasts.

"It won't move!" she yelled back at him. She saw that the monsters were getting closer. They would be on them in seconds.

Ryan pushed past her and started to ram the door with his shoulder. He fell back, clutching it in pain. The monsters moved closer. The Blood Nurse had retrieved her ax from the wall and had started to make her way towards them with a menacing limp. Julia pointed her pistol into the hall and unloaded a whole clip. The bullets slammed against the monsters and a few lodged into the walls. The snap and hiss of the rounds tearing through metal rang through the hospital. Still the nurses just kept coming.

"Jesus, why won't they just die?" she thought as the gun clicked empty.

She ejected the spent clip and fumbled for a new one. Slamming it in, she turned back to Ryan.

"Move!" he yelled, pushing her to the side away from the door.

She watched as he faced the door and aimed the gun at it. An extreme "Boom" exploded through the hall as a slug tore through the door. A small hole where the knob had once been shone through to the other side.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWRRRRR!" screamed the Blood Nurse as it swung the ax in the air.

The sound was all Ryan needed to get his ass in gear. He reared back and kicked the door with his foot. Wood splintered and flew outwards as the door was almost blown off its hinges. Ryan grabbed Julia and they ran into the stairwell. The moment Ryan set foot inside, the wood under his feet gave way and collapsed. Julia grabbed him as he fell over an edge, one of his arms catching the edge and another hanging onto the shotgun. Catching the ground as he hung on for dear life, he realized in fear that the stairs leading down were gone. He stared down and saw that there was darkness beneath him. The flashlight revealed nothing but a void. Ryan didn't know how far down it was, but he was guessing at least a sixty foot drop. That would be enough to kill him.

"Can't…hold…on." he thought as he struggled to pull himself up from the edge.

Julia looked down at him in terror as he was losing his grip on the edge of the stair well. She dropped to her knees as his weight brought her down. He was too heavy and she couldn't hold on forever. From behind her, Julia heard the nurse monsters getting closer. She turned around and saw them slowly walking towards them from the hall. Julia turned and looked at Ryan in desperation. He was struggling to hang on, to pull himself up, but it wasn't working. Then in a swift motion, he reached up and set the shotgun next to her. Reaching back down to his pants, Julia saw him reach into his back pocket for something.

"Julia!" he said as he struggled. "Take this! Find your aunt!"

Julia reached down and grabbed the piece of paper from him. Looking at it, she realized that he had taken her aunt's profile from the nurse's center. She saw that he was looking past her, towards the creatures that were several feet away. She looked at them as well and then looked back at him as he grabbed the shotgun. She knew what he wanted her to do.

"No!" she said as she tried with all her might to pull him back up. "We're in this together. You can't just leave me now!"

"Julia" he said with a soft voice that made her pay attention to him. "You have to let me go. Those things are coming. Just let me go and find your aunt. Go up to the third floor. You can use the elevator to move around. But you have to get away from those things. Save yourself. Now go!"

"I can't!" she cried

Ryan smiled at her. It was an unnaturally happy smile. Julia knew it was the smile of someone who was going to let it all go, with no regrets.

"You can" he said. "You have to"

With that, Julia's grip on his arm slipped and he fell into the darkness. The light on the shotgun spiraled in the dark and became fainter as it plummeted, till she could no longer see it.

"RYYYAAAAAAAAANNNN!" She screamed as he disappeared. His body became smaller and smaller as the dark took him from her.

He hadn't just done that. He couldn't have. How could he leave her all alone like this? Julia looked behind her. The Blood Nurse was coming through the door way. It lifted the ax above her head, ready to strike. Julia, tears running down her cheeks, grabbed her aunt's profile and ran up the stairs to the third floor and away from the creatures. She felt sick from fright and loss. She had to make it to the third floor. But how she could do that, now that she was all alone? It was what pained her the most. Julia blocked the thoughts from her head and ran for all she was worth. The nurse's screams and cries died out the farther up she ventured, like a distant memory.

**III**

It was cold and dark for so long. He didn't know if he was alive or dead. In heaven or hell. All he knew was that he was in a dream like state and was remembering times from long ago. Times that he had lived and was reliving again through someone else's eyes. It was so clear that he could swear that it was as if the dreams were real. He swore he could smell the hospital equipment and blood in the air. The smells and sounds covered him like a blanket.

"_Pulse is dropping. Let's get that defibrillator ready people!"_

"_Walter! What's happening to my Walter!"_

"_I'm losing the pulse! He's going into cardiac arrest"_

"_He was fine ten minutes ago. What the hell happened?"_

"_Please, we're doing everything we can. But you have to let us do our job"_

"_I lost the pulse! Prepare to defib._

"_WALTER! NOOOOOO! OH GOD, JESUS PLEASE NO! DON'T TAKE HIM FROM ME."_

"_Some one get her out of here. She doesn't need to see this"_

"_CLEAR!"_

"_No pulse. Try it again!"_

"_CLEAR!"_

"_Nothing. Get me a shot of epinephrine, now!"_

"_WALTER!"_

"_Almost got the pulse, shit I lost it again. Where's that epinephrine"_

"_Here"_

"_Pulse is back up. No, it's falling again. Start CPR"_

"_Come on, you are not going to die here today old man. You are going to live. Live, live, live. LIIIIIIIIIVVVE!"_

"_Call it"_

"_No! Fuck you! Come on, fight you bastard"_

"_Call it"_

"_I can save him"_

"_He's gone son. Let him go"_

"_No…still…gotta…still can do…something"_

"_Time of death…"_

The memory slipped away and was replaced with another. This time it was in the children's ward of the hospital. He remembered it so visibly. The rows of beds, the children either sick, happy, getting better, or getting worse. The colorful posters and stuffed animals adorned the large room. A favorite with the kids had been Robby the Rabbit. Almost every one of the kids had one to call their own.

"_Hey Danny? It's time to wake up Danny. Time to get you outside for some fresh air. Danny? Danny? DANNY?!"_

"_He's not breathing"_

"_What's wrong with Danny?"_

"_I need Dr. McGee in the children's ward STAT!"_

"_What's wrong with Danny? Is he going to be okay?"_

"_How long was he like that?"_

"_Must have gone in his sleep. Poor kid"_

"_His red cell count was really low. Looks like his organs gave out on him too"_

"_Was there anything that could have been done?"_

"_No. Nothing"_

"_Jesus. Every single time I see one of these kids go…I'm telling ya. It really does a number on you"_

"_Does it ever get any easier?"_

"_I'm sorry. But it never does"_

Time slipped away again and another memory came to the surface. Ryan could see himself in a locker room of the hospital. He was angry and sad. More so than he had ever been before in his life. He had never felt like this. Not since his grandfather died, not since his girlfriend left him, nothing like this. He could see himself _punching and kicking lockers_. The metal was denting and his hands were bleeding pretty bad. It seemed he was oblivious to the pain. As if his mental anguish was over riding anything else he could be feeling right now.

"_Ryan, Ryan, Ryan! Stop! You got to stop"_

"_No, I could have saved her. She was doing fine then…then…AH FUCK IT!"_

_BANG, CRUNCH_

"_Stop, it's okay…it's okay"_

"_No…let me go! Let me go! Let me…me…Awwwwwwwwwww… It hurts… so… bad"_

He could see himself crying into a woman's arms. She held him as his sobs echoed through the locker room.

"_Shhhhhh. I know sweetheart, I know. It's alright. Let it out, let it all out. You don't have to hold it all in anymore. Shhhh. Just let all your pain out. I'm here. _

"_I…I…coulda…coulda…_

"Saved her" he said as he woke up.

It had all been a horrible dream. The memories had seemed so clear and perfect that he could have sworn that he was reliving them again. He looked up into the darkness. Taking in a big breath of air, he discovered that he wasn't dead. He was lying down with his back to the ground. It felt cold and hard. Ryan understood that he was lying on metal. He didn't know where he was or how long he had been there. The last thing he remembered was that he was in the dilapidated stairway with Julia. The monsters had been coming and he had fallen off the edge of the broken floor. He had told her to go, to find her aunt. To leave him. She didn't want him to go. She was crying and scared. Then she had lost her grip and he had fallen, knowing that he had done the right thing.

But he wasn't dead. As far as a drop as he had taken, he was still breathing. Ryan made a mental check of himself. Nothing hurt and nothing seemed broken but he felt that something was wrong. He had a feeling that one gets when they're not totally awake. Regardless, he tried to shake it off. Looking to his side, he spied the shotgun next to him, the flashlight still shinning from the barrel. He fought to sit up, pushing up against the metal floor. It felt old and rusty to the touch. He stood up and shook his head.

"Just a dream. Old memories" he said to himself. But they had brought back unwanted feelings of loss and despair.

He noticed that his MP3 player was gone.

"Shit". There was nothing he could do about that. He'd have to manage, and hope that he didn't run into anything unpleasant.

Ryan went over to where the shotgun lay and picked it up. He checked to made sure it had not been damaged in the fall. He was relieved to find that it was still working and he used the light to check his surroundings.

"Where the hell…am I?" he said to himself.

The area was unlike anything he had ever seen. The entire place was a horrible mess. The floor was nothing but rusted, steel mesh. Pointing the light at the walls, he was stunned to see that it was rotting paint and wood. The look was so different that he almost thought that it was decaying flesh on the walls. Curious, Ryan stepped forward and touched one of the walls.

"Jesus Christ!" he said as he pulled his hand back and wiped it on his pants.

The walls _were_ decaying flesh. Or at least made of something close to it. Ryan tried to grasp what he was seeing. It didn't seem possible. Places didn't fall apart like this. The stuff on the walls had to be mold or something. It couldn't possibly be rotting flesh. That was just insane. He continued to wipe his hand on his pants and made a mental note to take a _long_ shower when he got home. Rotting wood, decaying flesh, or the worst paint job in the world. Whatever it was, it was making him want to hurl. His stomach started to churn and he couldn't take it anymore.

"BLEEEEEUUUUUUUGGGHH"

Ryan emptied the contents of his stomach on the floor, inhaled some air and threw up again. Digested food sloshed to the ground and formed a puddle. The entire place was making him sick. When he was sure that he was out of vomit, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and tried to collect himself. Moving the light around the area, Ryan could see several, old wooden doors. Perplexed, he reached into his pocket and took out the hospital map. He knew it was a long shot, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Pulling out the paper and making sure that he didn't step in his own vomit, Ryan checked the map. Cross-referencing it with the doors around him, Ryan came to a stunning realization.

"Bloody hell! I'm in the goddamn basement" he said as he looked around the area. "Man, and I thought the upstairs was a mess"

As crazy and impossible as it seemed he was standing in the basement of the hospital. But how could that have been? He had fallen from a second floor stair well. A fall like that had to have been over 100-110 feet strait down. By all intents and purposes, he should have been dead. But here he was.

Looking at the map, Ryan saw that he had only several doors to choose from. A boiler room, generator room, store room, morgue, elevator and the stair well behind him. Unfortunately, that last choice was blocked by debris. Looking past a collection of metal and broken hospital gurneys, Ryan saw that there were no stairs leading up. The only way he was getting out of here was by using the elevator. Walking over to it, he pushed the button on the wall and waited. Nothing happened. He pushed it again. Then again and again and again.

"Come on" he said as he pressed the button. But there was no response. "Something must have tripped a breaker. Or something's wrong with the power." He stopped to think for a few moments. "_Power, power……………………power_!"

He started to jog towards the generator room. Keeping his senses open for anything out of the ordinary. He begrudgingly took the door handle in his hand and pushed down on it. The metal of the door creaked open as he walked into the room. The place was small but was mostly taken up by the huge generator. Walking past the enormous piece of equipment, Ryan searched the walls for a circuit breaker or something to get the power back online. He soon came across a panel that rose up from the ground. It was situated near the far end of the generator.

With a quick look at the thing, Ryan was able to find a button that read "Start". Without any further thought, he pushed it. In seconds, the massive generator rumbled to life. Strangely, there was no electricity going through the room he stood in.

"_Weird_" he thought as he made his way to the exit. "_Aw well. The elevator should be back on line. That's all I care about"_

Closing the door behind him, he stepped back out into the hall and walked towards the elevator again. Then, from somewhere to his left, something made a loud banging sound. The sound made him jump and he trained the shotgun towards the source of the noise. From what he could tell, it was coming from the store room. Standing in the hallway, Ryan deliberated with himself whether he should investigate the sound or not.

"What the hell" he said as he shrugged his shoulders. He opened the door to the store room and walked inside.

Sweeping the gun through the area, he quickly found that it was devoid of life. That fact made his paranoia level rise. If a sound had come from this room, where was the thing that had made it? His breathing increased as he walked deeper into the darkened room and found it surprisingly well kept in comparison to the hallway that he had just come through. The room was filled with shelves that held various medical supplies as well as linins and even some nonperishable food. Even though he was hungry, there was no way that he'd touch anything in this hospital.

The banging sound was getting a little louder, making him breathe heavier in fear. The gun was getting a little hard to hold as his hands were sweating. The metal only intensified the clamminess that his body was feeling. Moving to the back of the storeroom, Ryan saw a row of lockers. He also noticed that he banging sound was coming from one of them. Against his better judgment he gave into curiosity and slowly reached towards the locker.

CLANG, "Raaaaaaaarrwwww!"

"Holy shit!" he yelled out as a small black form jumped out of the dark at him.

His finger slipped on the trigger and he accidentally fired off a round. Thunder kicked through the small room and night turned to day as the muzzle flashed in the dark. He tripped over something on the ground and fell backwards into one of the shelves. A few jars were knocked over, fell to the ground and shattered. His heart pounded against his rib cage as he tried to understand what had just happened.

"Cat. Just a fucking cat" he said as his heart rate returned to normal. "How did a cat get in here? Jeez, I hate this pop up crap"

From somewhere in the dark he heard a "meow" and then nothing again as the small animal disappeared somewhere. Collecting himself, Ryan looked at the opened locker and was amazed by what the flashlight was reflecting off of. Reaching into the locker, he removed the long deadly weapon.

"_What the hell is a thing like this doing here_?" he thought as his hand closed around the sword.

The weapon was easily recognizable. It was a Japanese katana enclosed in a sturdy wooden scabbard. The weapon had a shoulder strap attached to it as well. Wonder clouded his eyes as he removed the sword from its sheath. There was a familiar sound of metal grinding against the wood of the scabbard as he removed it. It reminded him of kung fu movies that he had watched from time to time. Lifting the weapon in his hand, he was amazed at how heavy it was. The thing had to be at least twenty pounds. But it was no matter. He knew he could handle it if he had to. He waved the thing up and down to get a feel for the sword.

That's when he noticed that there was a little strip of paper attached to the hilt. Looking down at it, he saw that there were words written on it.

_Answers to the past_

_Lie buried _

_In the remains of the present_

"_Answers to the past? What the bloody hell does that mean?"_ Ryan thought as he returned the sword to its sheath before putting the sword on his back.

Why was something like that attached to a sword? Must have been some old Japanese proverb or something. Either that, or it was the worst haiku he had ever read. He figured he'd worry about why the weapon was in a hospital later. Right now he had a new toy. If he was lucky, he'd get through the rest of the night without having to use it.


	8. Dead Bodies Everywhere

Ryan walked back towards the elevator. His footsteps echoed through the empty hall as he stepped on the rusted metal. There was another room that he hadn't tired besides the boiler room. He didn't think that there was anything of interest in it. But the morgue however, he hadn't gone in there yet.

"_There is no way that I'm going through that door_" he thought to himself.

Then his mind started to twist and turn.

"_Remains of the present, remains of the present. What does that mean? Remains, remains. Of the present. Aw damn it" _

He was going to have to go into the morgue. Why? He didn't know. He could just walk away and get out of this hell hole of a basement. But something was drawing him to the morgue, pulling him there, compelling him to inspect it. Ryan knew that he wasn't going to like what he was about to see behind the door. Clutching the shotgun tightly in his hand, he turned the door's knob and stepped inside. As he set foot inside the room he noticed a light switch on the wall next to him. Then all of a sudden, the light on his shotgun went out, plunging him into the pitch black. It was then that he noticed the terrible smell in the room. Like something had shat, thrown up on itself and then died.

"Shit" he said as he smacked at the flashlight.

The batteries must have gone out on it. He shouldn't have been so surprised. The light had been going non stop for hours. Ryan sighed to himself as he thought of what to do next. There was no way that he could navigate the room in this condition. He would have to find another source of light. Or he could just walk right back through the door he had come through. He opted for the later and did an about face. It was no skin off of his back whether or not he checked out death central. Besides, it smelled horrible in the room. That's when he noticed a faint buzzing sound coming from the wall next to him. It was so familiar, yet he couldn't quite place it. His memories swam until they clicked into place. There was power being pumped into the room. All he had to do was flip the switch. Turning to the wall, he flipped the switch while putting an arm to his nose to block out the horrible smell.

Instantly the room was flooded with the dull light of a dying bulb. Ryan immediately shut his eyes as the fluorescent lighting burned into them. A few seconds and blinks later, he was able to welcome the light to his eyes. He turned around to face the room and his heart stopped.

"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God…!" he said as a new form of terror overtook him.

Unable to cope with what he was seeing, Ryan fell to his knees. He started to hyperventilate while simultaneously dry-heaving. He had nothing left to expel from his stomach. Although he wished that he had. It was just insane. Nothing he had seen this night could have prepared him for what was lying in the room and hanging from the walls and ceiling. Forcing himself to look, he tried to deny what was in front of his eyes.

There had to be at least several of them. The bodies were strung up along the walls and ceilings, like morbid Christmas lights. They were all an incredible shade of dark brown. The blood had dried up ages ago, so it was safe to assume that they had been in the room a very, very long time. The skin was completely removed from each corpse. Ryan could even make out the remains of tendons and ligaments on the bodies as well as exposed bone. They each resembled the monstrosities from the _Hellraiser_ films. Just skinned bodies, which dangled before him. But what was even more disturbing was how they were presented.

Each of the bodies was wearing a hospital gown. The garments were draped around their bodies like capes. They dull white was a stark contrast to the muscle that they lay upon. The lips of each of the corpses had been removed so that they each smiled a permanent, evil leer. And the final nail in the coffin was the eyes. The eyes of each of the bodies were still intact. From where he was standing, Ryan could swear that the eyes were still fresh. An audience of the dead stared back at him as his mind bent and twisted to the disgusting horror which lay before him. Monsters in a scary town he could take. They bled and died and didn't get back up. Whoever had done this had to be one sick asshole.

"Oh God. Please tell me it isn't true" he said as he came to a shocking realization.

At least three of the corpses were smaller in stature. It took him several more seconds to figure out that they were the bodies of children. Tears formed in his eyes and trailed down his face. The small faces grinned back at him.

"Why?! Jesus Christ, why?!" he moaned to the floor.

He tried to get up and get to the door. Grabbing the knob and trying to turn it, he found that it wouldn't budge. He was locked in the morgue with the things. Ryan's mind was snapping under the pressure. He wished that he had never set foot in the room. He wished that he had just walked away. These people didn't deserve this. And he didn't deserve to be looking at it. It was just crazy and wrong and it didn't make any sense at all. He looked away and cried for a few more minutes before looking up again. In the center of the room, laid out on a mortician's table was another body, the pale skin of feet poked out from under a simple sheet. Fighting to regain his sanity, Ryan got up and slowly walked over to it, shaking in fear. If he was lucky, he'd walk away from this with post traumatic stress. If he was lucky.

"Nothing to be scared of. Just a corpse. A corpse in a morgue. Which is currently in the most fucked up hospital in an even more fucked up town" he said, moving towards it.

He was no stranger to the dead. But seeing it in this setting sent shivers down his spine.

"_Why am I even here right now?"_ he wondered to himself "_All I wanted was a nice vacation. Now I'm in a morgue that was redecorated by Jeffrey Dahmerr_"

'_Remains of the present'_

The words flashed into his mind as he neared closer to the body. They were starting to make sense in a sick and twisted way. With his hands shaking, he removed the sheet. Ryan saw that the body was of an elderly man, naked, with his eyes closed. He didn't know who it was and he didn't particularly care. All he wanted was to understand why he had been led to and locked in this room.

"_God I wish I had spent more time with those guys in the morgue; playing poker on a dead guys' stomach_." he thought as he struggled to keep it together.

He noticed that there was a long, stitched incision down the dead man's torso. An autopsy must have been performed on him recently. Then they would have sewed him back up again.

"Jesus, shit" he breathed to himself. He didn't know how much longer his mind could hold out.

_Answers to the past, Remains of the present._

It was starting to make sense. As crazy and out of place as the riddle had seemed, in the room he was standing in, it all started to come into place. Ryan desperately looked around the room. There didn't seem to be any equipment lying around. And there was no way that he was going anywhere near the bodies. So the question was, if there was something important inside the body on the table, how would he get into it? He would need something…

"_Sharp_" he thought as he reached for the katana on his back.

His hand closed around the hilt and he jerked the weapon out of its sheath. Bringing the sword around to the front of his body, Ryan pointed the blade towards the corpse. He took several deep breaths. He knew the man was dead, but it was still wracked his nerves knowing what he was about to do.

"I can do this, I can do this…" he said as he drove the weapon into the corpse's abdominal region.

He grunted and started to saw through the dead man's torso, along the stitches. The bodies in the room watched him with horrible glee as the torso tore open. Looking inside, Ryan saw that the man's organs had been removed. It was completely hollow inside the man. The only thing keeping his chest up was the rib cage which had been put back together. But he saw something resting within the rib cage that made him do a double take.

"What… the… shit?" he said as he reached into the corpse, his own chest pounding.

Ryan's hand closed around the object and he took it from its resting place. Curiously, he inspected it. It was a VHS security tape. Why the hell was it inside a corpse? Was it someone's idea of a really fucked up joke? He couldn't be sure. Ryan just looked over the tape and found a label with some writing on it.

_Garland, security footage, Ma…"_

The rest of the label had been scratched out.

"Garland? Lisa…Garland? Julia's aunt?" he pondered as he held the tape.

It seemed impossible, but the little piece of paper was right. There were answers to the past within the remains of the present. He put the sword back in its resting place on his back. Turning towards the door, Ryan took one last look at the bodies on the walls in disgust.

"Now to get out of this…room?" he said as the knob magically started to turn in his hand. "What the…?" he said as he looked at it. The door wouldn't budge a few minutes ago.

It was a moot point. He could leave the room and it was all that mattered. He turned off the light and his shotgun's light magically came back on again. Ryan just shook his head and closed the door behind him, vowing never to return to that room again. He hoped the hospital would be blown up in the near future.

**III**

Julia didn't know what was tougher on her. The fact that she was being pursued by monsters in hell or the fact that she was on her own. It had been so much simpler when it was her and Ryan. It was easier knowing that someone had her back and that she didn't have to suffer by herself. But now, that one person was gone and she had to push herself not to break down and give up. The trip up to the third floor, as short as it had seemed, had been an emotionally long journey. She regretted coming to Silent Hill. It was the worst decision that she had ever made. And to make matters worse was the fact that _perhaps_ her mother had been right all along.

"Aunt Lisa" she said as she choked back tears. "Where are you?"

She pounded up the stairs and collided with the stairwell door. She had made it to the third floor. Looking back down the stairwell she couldn't see or hear anything coming up after her. Julia didn't care why she wasn't being pursed. The monsters were gone and she was safe. Relatively at best, but still safe. Pushing open the door, she found herself in a near identical hallway to the one she had been standing in one floor below.

There was no sign of immediate danger. Perhaps it was that fact more than anything else that unnerved her. Julia slowly made her way through the hallway, the wood creaking underfoot. She gripped held onto the pistol in her hand. After everything that had just happened, its weight was starting to feel noticeable. She was more tired and scared than she had ever been in her whole life. Julia didn't know if she could go on any longer.

"_You have to"_

Ryan. His words flew into her head. He may have been gone, but he still wanted her to finish what she had started, get the answers that she was looking for. Against all odds, Julia mentally pushed herself to continue with her searching. She had come this far. It would be a sin to give up now. As she moved around the hallway, she noticed that it was eerily quite on the last floor of the hospital. She kept expecting something to happen. Something to come out of the shadows and attack her. But still she searched and still she remained unharmed. Unharmed, but nonetheless frustrated.

In what seemed to be a recurring theme in the hospital, many of the doors were either locked or had their knobs busted off. This limited the number of areas that she could investigate. As she passed each of the doors she noticed that they were denoted with numbers. Most likely patient rooms. She tried each of the doors but found that the only one which would open was 302. Carefully making her way inside, Julia noticed that it was somewhat lit. While it was just as filthy as the rest of the hospital, she saw that it was at least furnished with an old bed and a desk. To her surprise, there was also a fairly modern 15" TV sitting in the room as well. A dust covered VCR sat underneath it.

"_What's this doing in here?"_ she thought as she flopped down on the old bed, its springs creaking underneath her weight.

Julia let out a big sigh. She needed to stop and take a break or else _she_ was going to break. If she didn't stop to collect herself then she was certain that something bad would happen to her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the photo of her aunt. Staring at it, a flood of memories came back to her. Tears welled up in her eyes and Julia cried into her arms as the nights adventures took their toll on her. Would she ever find her Aunt Lisa? Would she ever get out of this place alive? And even more importantly, would she ever be able to look at the world and her life the same way ever again?

**III**

Ryan stepped back into the basement hallway. He was still shook up from his experience in the morgue and knew, no, _expected_ to have some really bad nightmares in the weeks to come. The second he started walking to the elevator, a clicking sound rang out in the small hallway. His heart turned to ice as he slowly turned around, pointing his gun down the hallway.

"_No! No, that's not possible_!" he thought as he saw what was sharing the hallway with him. "_How did they get down here?!"_

He had just been in this hallway. There was no way that anything could have come from anywhere he had just been. But they were still right in front of him. Flesh and blood and looking right back at him. The nurses from the second floor stared back at him as he shinned his flashlight on them. Their numbers had to be at least the same ten or eleven as before. They took up so much space in the cramped confines of the basement hallway. In the dark, he couldn't see as to whether or not they were armed. Regardless, he didn't doubt that they would still be able to kill him. They twitched and sputtered as they became fixated on the light.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRR!" came the same horrible scream as before.

Ryan aimed the light a little higher and saw the Blood Nurse standing in the far rear, like a general leading his troops. He could see the ax dangling from one of her arms as the other raised and pointed strait at him. Blood dripped off the creature's outstretched arm and onto the metal grating of the floor. It seemed to ooze off the creature in sheets, like the monster wasn't made of clothes so much as blood. The other nurse monsters started to advance on Ryan and he pointed the gun at them.

"Screw you!" he said as he pulled the trigger, sending a round into the crowd.

He pumped the handle but something went wrong. The spent shell that he had just fired got lodged in the chamber of the shotgun. Figuring that it was just an empty container, Ryan pulled the trigger again. The gun exploded in his hands as the slug blew back into the weapon.

"AH SHIT!" he said as he dropped the smoking gun to the floor, shaking his hands out.

Looking at his arm, he saw that he had a mild burn. He counted his lucky stars and was glad that the entire thing hadn't blown off his hands. Glancing down at the weapon, he saw that it was charred and slightly twisted. There was no way that it would function properly. But the flashlight was still intact. Running to the weapon, he tore the light from the barrel and tossed the gun into the crowd of nurses. One of them was nearly on him and it reached out at him with long, vein ridden arms. It was like a drunken girl coming on to him. Except instead of making out with him, it wanted to tear his still beating heart out of his chest.

Ryan stumbled back and swung at the nurse monster, cracking it across the face. The creature fell back but was replaced with one of its sisters. He figured that he had had enough of this. He turned his back on the advancing creatures and quickly made his way to the elevator. Skidding to a stop in front of its doors, he pressed the button repeatedly with his thumb while looking back at the advancing monsters. At their rate, they would reach him within seconds.

"Come on…Come on…" he said as he tapped the button.

He forced himself to look away from the monsters as he waited for the elevator to come down. He was sweating bullets. His brow and arms were slick to the touch. For the umpteenth time in the evening, his heart rate sky rocketed. Finally he heard a sound that he could have mistaken for an angel's call. The elevator came to a stop with a "ding". But the doors didn't open.

"No!" he said as he pried at them with his hands. They were impossibly strong. Something as simple as this should have been able to be opened.

"OPEN UP!" he yelled as he struggled with the doors.

Looking back, he saw that the nurses were two feet away and closing in on him. Grabbing at the katana on his back, he shoved the blade through the doors and started to use it as a lever. Little by little, the doors parted ways.

"Almost" he grunted as he felt cold, delicate fingers on the back of his neck and shoulders.

If it had been under any other circumstances, he would have enjoyed the attention from the female advances. But he was in hell and these creatures wanted to murder him. That was the incentive he needed to use all his force against the sword. With a heavy grunt and a lunge, the doors popped open enough for him to get through. But the nurses were already on him. Before he could make a step towards the inside of the car, the nurses grabbed him, pulling him back into the hallway.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed as he reached for the doorway.

It was no use as the inhuman monsters encompassed him en mass. They pulled him back towards them, their arms wrapping around his neck, torso and limbs. They would smother him or stab him to death. He was going to die at the hands of these demonic bitches. He was going to lose his life in this hellish town. But even more disturbingly was the fact that Julia was still trapped in the hospital somewhere. She was probably alone, scared and huddled in a corner for dear life while her ammo ran low. He lamented over that fact above even his own death.

"Noooo! Julia!" he screamed through the mass of bodies.

All of a sudden, the nurses let up on him unexpectedly. Even though they were all around him, he found that he was able to break free from them. With a tremendous tug, Ryan ripped from the monsters hold, sending them falling to the floor. They screamed at him as he ran into the elevator. Ryan instantly started to press the button for the doors to close but the process was ridiculously slow. He looked beyond the doors and saw that the nurses were getting back up. He punched the button again and again, praying that the door would close in time.

"Come on!" he said as the nurses fought back to their feet and started to advance on him.

Soon the doors started to close, the monsters just outside of it. Ryan leaned against the doors as the rumbles of them pounding on the doors rang out within the car. He was safe inside and that was all that mattered. Nothing was going to hurt him now.

"RAAAAAAWWWRRR" came a scream from outside the door.

"SEEEEECRAAAAAAAWWWWWSHHHH"

The sound of twisted metal ran through the car as a bloody arm shot through the doors and grabbed Ryan by the face. The Blood Nurse had gotten its arm into the elevator car. It screamed at him again as it latched onto his face in a firm grip. He could feel the blood against his face as it left a horrible hand shaped stain on his skin. It was cold and slimy and made him want to recoil in fear. Then he heard the Blood Nurse scream out again. He couldn't be sure but it almost sounded like it was forming words.

"STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he punched the button for the 3rd floor.

It was too much, he couldn't handle it. The elevator started to move and the Blood Nurse retracted its arm and screamed through the hole in the doors. Ryan's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he started to black out. Darkness stole his thoughts away as he fell to the floor of the elevator. The last thing he remembered hearing was the hum of the elevator gears, taking him up and away from Hell.


	9. Alone I Break

**Authors note: A few bits of dialogue are taken from the **_**Born from a Wish **_**scenario of **_**Silent Hill 2 **_**as well as some dialogue taken from a diary entry from **_**Silent Hill 1**_**. It is NOT my writing and is in no way meant to point to any sort of plot device. I just thought it would fit with this chapter is all.**

It had been awhile since she had made it to the third floor and Julia had rested a bit. The feelings of helplessness and despair that had once plagued her were almost gone. But she still felt depressed, tired and sad. She knew that Ryan was gone and no amount of sitting in an old, dirty hospital room while feeling sorry for herself was going to bring him back. Besides; the mattress was shot to hell and there was an old spring poking her in the butt. Sitting on the bed in room 302 looking at the floor, she tried to cope with what was happening.

"I'm all alone. Everyone's gone" she had told herself. "What do I do now?" she had thought.

Julia looked at the small caliber handgun in her palms. She absentmindedly pulled the hammer back and gently put it back in place several times. She was playing with the gun like a toy.

"Do I fight and live? Or do those monsters get me?" she sighed.

They were thoughts that she didn't want to dwell on, yet she couldn't help herself from conjuring them up in her mind. The ideas made her shudder.

"I'm so afraid of pain. Should I…run away?" she wondered.

That would be the sensible thing to do. Just run away, go back home and try to forget that this all had ever happened. It could all just be one bad dream. But if she did that, then all that she and Ryan had been through would have been for nothing. Their quest to search for her Aunt Lisa would end in disaster. And Ryan would still be dead. It would all just be easier to handle if he was still with her. With him by her side they could face the unknown together. Together they could stay safe and she would get the answers she searched for.

"I don't like being alone" she thought. "I just want to see another human face" she said out loud. "But…is there anyone left alive?"

Julia looked at her aunt's picture and tried to figure out what her next move should be. The smart thing would be to wait until the sun came up and then either try to get out of town or go to her aunt's house. It would be risky, but she would have to do it. She couldn't very well sit in a dingy hospital room for the rest of her life. It had been so much easier knowing that someone was right there beside her, experiencing the same fears and sense of helplessness. But now that that person was gone, she found it difficult to pursue her goal. Julia figured that feeling sorry for herself was going to get her jack squat. She needed to pull it together, find out what she needed to find out and get the hell out of town. When she had been ready, Julia gathered her things, pulled the hood of her sweat shirt over her head and started searching the 3rd floor again.

Because all the doors in the hallway were busted and unable to be opened, Julia decided to cross over and check the rooms in the adjacent hallway. Pushing through the double doors that connected the two hallways, she began to tread the new ground. She wasn't as afraid as she had once felt. Sadness and despair had overtaken that emotion. It was hard on her to know that she was going to be flying solo through hell. She hefted the metal pipe on her back to keep the strap from digging into her shoulder and winced a bit. The pain killers in her system had started to wear off. She wished that she had more on her. But as memory served her correctly, Ryan had left the bottle on the 1st floor. The memory of him made the sadness she felt grow.

"But I can do this" she said to herself. "I started this on my own…and I can end it on my own"

It was the only thing she could really do as she started to check the remaining doors in the hallway. She was agitated to find that many of them were busted or locked. It was like a sick, reoccurring theme to this place, meant to test her patience. Door after door was unable to be opened. However, she found that the door to room 307 was able to be opened. Her heart fluttered slightly in a mix of surprise and fear upon making the discovery. She was glad to be making progress but worried about what she might find inside.

Julia put her hand on the door handle and slowly turned it. The door creaked open and she swept the room with the 9mm, her finger resting on the trigger. She furrowed her brow in frustration as she tried to navigate the darkened room. Her cell phone wasn't going off so she knew that there weren't any nasty surprises waiting for her inside. But the lack of light was annoying and would make searching the room troublesome. Julia needed a light source.

"But where?" she thought.

Then an idea came to her. Closing the door to the room and stepping back against it, Julia raised her pistol out in front of her and pulled the trigger. The round shot out of the gun with a small crack of thunder. The muzzle flash illuminated the room for a few brief seconds allowing Julia to see what was in the room. As gunpowder filled her nose, she gasped as she saw what was resting on a desk three feet in front of her. The light died out and, not wanting to waste the ammo, she put her arm out and swept the air in front of her. Walking forward, her hand rested on the object on the desk. The old lamp was filthy to the touch. But she didn't care about that. Julia just hoped it had some juice going through it.

Fumbling to find a switch on the old appliance, Julia's hand rested on something and she turned it. She blinked a few times as an old orange light shot into her face. Shaking it off, she turned around to view the rest of the room.

"Oh…my" she said as her eyes fell on what was pinned to the opposite wall.

The newspaper clippings had to be a decade old if not more. The yellowed paper was a testament to their age. Whoever had taken up residence in the room must have been a pretty dedicated collector as the clippings covered the whole wall from top to bottom. Julia tilted the lamp shade in order to brighten up the wall a bit more. Walking to it, she didn't know where to start. Her eyes traveled over the clippings, glancing at the headings.

_**Police investigate apparent narcotics ring**_

_**Silent Hill religious society questioned in regards to drug trafficking**_

_**Young girl, unidentified, survives house fire; is taken to hospital**_

_**Town's people/tourists vanish**_

_**Religious society labeled "Cult" by townspeople**_

_**Decorated officer Thomas Gucci goes missing**_

_**Alchemilla hospital staff questioned about drug trafficking**_

_**Police investigate apparent disappearance of several hospital staff**_

_**String of murders plagues nearby town**_

_**Victims mutilated, organs removed**_

…

That was enough. Julia didn't want to read any more of it. She didn't want to think about any of it. It was just stirring up new fears which she didn't want to face. The newspaper clippings only served to reinforce the idea that the town had gone to hell or had been a horrible place to live for some time.

"How does a place like this get that messed up?" she thought

She glanced back at the wall and something caught her eye. It was a piece of paper, but it seemed _fresh_. Like it had been added to the wall recently. Perplexed, Julia inspected the piece of paper. She discovered that it was page from a diary. She read the brief message out loud to herself.

"Ask doctor to let me quit being in charge of that patient. It's too weird. Still alive, but with wounds that won't heal. Told the doctor I quit. Won't work at that hospital anymore"

Julia scanned to the bottom of the document and saw that the diary entry had been notarized. She peered closer and the name at the bottom made her eyes widen in astonishment.

_L. Garland._

"Aunt Lisa!" she said as she tore the piece of paper from the wall.

She furiously read and re-read the brief note over and over. She couldn't believe it. Her aunt _was _alive somewhere. The piece of paper that she held in her hands was a testament to that. Julia's heart pounded as her mind raced at the possibilities that her beloved aunt was somewhere close by. Perhaps not in the hospital. Perhaps not even in the town itself. But still…close. She carefully folded the small piece of paper in her hands and stuffed it in her pocket. Julia now knew that she was on the right track. The first real bread crumb in a trail of bread crumbs had made a little light come to life in the back of her mind. And that light was hope.

"Huh?" she said as she felt something on the back of the piece of paper.

Retrieving the note from her pocket, Julia turned it over and saw that there was some writing on the back. It was strange. The script wasn't in her aunt's handwriting.

_The souls of the evil ones must be punished._

Attached to the note was the picture of a man. Julia stared at it in confusion. The man looked like he was in his late 30's or early 40's. The photograph only showed the man from the chest up. He was dressed in a dull, gray business suit. His hair was dark and slicked back. It was funny. Julia could swear that she knew the man from somewhere. She struggled to pull the memory out of her head.

"_Hmm, Dr. Kaufman. Why would a doctor's profile be in a nurse's station?"_

It was a photo of the same man from the profile that Ryan had found in the nurse's station.

"How did I miss that?" she wondered as she returned the note, sans photo, to her pocket. She was deeply perplexed at the ominous writing

She should have picked up on the fact that there was something attached to the diary entry the moment she removed it from the wall. Glancing back at the newspaper clippings, Julia noticed that there was something written on the wall. Something that the editorials were covering up. Something, in red paint. Frantically, she started to tear down the old sheets of paper. Soon she was standing in front of a large series of sentences that were painted on the wall.

_**J**__**udge the fallen. Look for the you that isn't you. It is she who will decide his fate and cause the rivers to flow with blood.**_

"Ooookay…" she said, backing away from the wall uneasily.

She didn't know who had written the message or who was meant to find it. Nor did she particularly care. It was starting to creep her out. Some nut-job must have gone off the deep end and turned the room into their own little riddle emporium. She kind of wished that she had just left the clippings on the wall. Damn her for letting her curiosity get the better of her. Julia decided that she was done with the room and turned to the exit. As she opened the door, she looked back as the desk lamp continued to illuminate and cast shadows against the wall. The effect made her shudder and she closed the door to the room, stepping back into the hallway.

She sighed and patted the note in her pocket. It rested right next to her cell phone.

"Bzzz, Bzzz, Bzzz"

"Oh, What now?" she said as she gripped the 9mm in her hands, pointing it into the darkened hallway as her phone continued to vibrate.

Something was definitely in the hallway with her. But where was it? She swept the weapon out in front of her and searched her surroundings. She was getting sick and tired of bumping into every demonic asshole that this town was going to throw at her. Her fear was giving way to aggravation. From somewhere in the dark came a low, inhuman sound. Julia tried to place it, but came up with nothing. It was unlike anything that she had ever heard before. The only way that she could make sense of it was to compare it to a cat choking on its own tongue.

"Come on. Where are you? I can take anything you can throw at meeeeeeeeeee!" she screamed

Something sharp cut into her leg, sending Julia sprawling to the ground. The pain stung as she reached down and felt her leg. Her hand came back wet with what she knew had to be blood. Instinctively, she kicked out with her good leg and it connected with something small and soft. The same choking cat noise filled the hallway as something thumped to the floor a few feet away. Julia's eyes adjusted to the light of the darkened hallway and she saw the little abomination rise up off the floor.

"Jesus" she breathed as she tried to get up.

The thing was about three feet tall. It had to be a dull green or gray color, but in the dark it looked black. It was completely naked, its horrible skin producing a scaly, ripple look across its body. It almost resembled a small child but its head was horribly distorted and twisted. It just appeared to be a nub of flesh and scales. But what really struck Julia was what the thing carried in its hand. The small blade shinned through the darkness.

Without thinking twice, Julia aimed the handgun at the small creature and pulled the trigger. Instantly, the small body twisted and contorted as the rounds smacked into it. It cried out. Julia didn't know whether it was in pain or anger. She didn't care how the thing felt. She just wanted it dead. Within seconds, it was over. The small form lay unmoving on the ground. Julia got up and turned down the hallway, limping. She didn't know how bad the cut was but it made walking difficult. She pushed past the double doors that separated the two hallways. What waited for her on the other side made the blood drain from her face.

There had to be a small army of the gray child monsters. The creatures hadn't been in the hallway minutes ago. It was as if the had appeared out of thin air. They all turned to face her, immediately drawn to the presence of a living person. She knew that she didn't have enough ammo to take them all out. Her best chance of survival was to go back the way she had come. Julia pushed through the double doors just as a chorus of inhuman squeals and cries erupted from behind her. She shut the double doors and braced herself against them. Soon a powerful pushing force was at her back. Her feet skidded across the wooden floor as the creatures attempted to work their way to her. She held herself against the door in vain, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hold out forever.

Through a glass panel, she could see the children monsters pushing and surging in a huge crowd. They started to punch and stab at the glass with their hands and weapons. The glass didn't hold long. It spider-webbed and shattered in seconds. Small hands groped through the broken pane, trying to reach her. They were like a colony of small worms, snaking their way through the opening. She ducked down so the hands wouldn't find her.

"Gotta find something to hold the door" she thought hurriedly.

She didn't have any wood or metal to shove through the door handles to buy her some time. Her mind raced at what she could do in the short time that she had. She couldn't make it back to the stairwell with all those things in the way.

"The pipe!" she said as she took the thing from her back and shoved it through the door handles.

The metal fell into place as the creatures continued to bang and thrash against the door. Amazingly it started to bend against the force of the creatures. The screws that held the door handles in place started to strip out of the wooden door. Julia had to think of something fast or else they would be on her in seconds. She looked back down the hallway and saw that there was still one door that she hadn't attempted to access. She got up and started to limp towards it as fast as she could. The pain in her leg was starting to increase but she tried to block it out of mind. She could feel her blood falling out of the wound and down her leg, soaking her sock and shoe.

Pushing through the door, she found herself staring at the steel doors of the elevator. Frantically, she started to press the call button for the car.

"Come on, come on!" she said as she looked back the way she had come.

From somewhere in the distance she could hear the moaning cries of the child monsters. Over the cries she heard wood breaking and something metal hitting the floor. Her heart started beating in fear, knowing the monsters had made their way through her simple barricade. She took her eyes off the door and tired to concentrate on the elevator, willing it to come to her faster. Soon there was a pounding sound on the door to the small area she stood in.

"Shit" she said as she put her back to the elevator doors and pointed her pistol at the door.

Julia wasn't about to let these things stop her. She had come too far to die. She had finally gotten answers and clues to where her aunt might be. She couldn't throw in the towel now.

The pounding got louder and louder. The wood of the door started to bend and splinter. The things were going to get through in several minutes. Julia's heart started to race at the thought of all the little monstrosities pouring towards her en mass. She turned her attention on the elevator and hit the button a few more times in desperation. All she got for her trouble was a little yellow light that illuminated the button. She was going to have to wait a bit longer.

Julia was drawn to the sound of wood breaking and inhuman cries. She turned and raised her pistol at the door. The gray children were forcing their way through. Without giving it a second thought, Julia fired off her gun into the crowd that was working its way into the room. The bullet shells fell to the floor with little ping sounds. The creatures snapped back as the bullets impacted their bodies. They screeched and screamed as blood splashed from their chests and heads. Many went down but others just took their place, indifferent to their brethren that had fallen. Soon the weapon clicked empty and Julia fumbled for a new clip. Her hand closed around one. Her last one.

"Goddamn it!" she said as the slide moved back into place and she continued to fire off more rounds.

It was no good. She didn't have enough to take them all out. And to make matters worse, she didn't have her back up weapon any more. Julia pressed herself against the door as the creatures closed in around her. She watched as they waved their weapons in the air and their heads twitched uncontrollably.

"Please. Please don't let me die here. Not like this" she said to whoever was listening.

She started to cry as the monsters closed in. She didn't want to die in this place. Just then the elevator doors opened with a noticeable "ping" and huge arms wrapped around her torso, pulling her into the car. Julia screamed as the unseen monster pulled her into the small car of the elevator.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! LET ME GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed as she thrashed against the binds that held her.

She was taken off her feet and fell to the floor with the creature. Her gun fell out of her hands and onto the floor. She started to pound on the things chest as her tears obscured her vision. Julia wouldn't let some inhuman thing take her life without a fight. She was so terrified and angry that she just wanted to lash out at anything within reach.

"BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!"

"RAAAEEERRR!"

Something fired off the pistol into the crowd of little creatures. Julia looked and saw that a few of them recoiled, screaming as they fell back into the crowd. Enough space was created for the doors to close. Whoever held her lashed out with their leg, grunting as their foot connected with the "door close" button. The doors slowly snapped shut just as the monsters were getting back up and coming at towards them once again. Julia breathed heavily and noticed that whatever was holding her was also breathing just as tough. She could feel her heart beat almost sync with her captor's.

"Miss me?" , came a familiar voice.

Turning around, Julia came face to face with Ryan. She couldn't believe it. He was alive. He was terrified and looked white as a sheet, like he had seen a ghost. He also had a bloody stain on his face that she thought looked like a hand print. But he was still alive.

Not caring about the pain in her arm, Julia wrapped her arms around him and broke down, crying heavily into his chest. She was simultaneously relieved that he was back as well as terrified at the events that she had just gone through. He held her as she cried, shuddering all the while as he desperately tried to cope with what had just happened.

"It's over…It's over…" he said as he stroked her hair.

In terrified fury, Julia pounded her arm on his chest.

"Don't leave! You…don't get to…leave" she cried, tears staining her cheeks. "You don't leave me alone!"

"I know. I'm sorry" he said as he slowly rocked her back and forth. "I'm here. everything's going to be alright. I'm staying right here"

The creatures pounded against the doors. Their screams seeped through the cracks in the steel. Ryan didn't want to hear any more of it so he kicked the button for the 1st floor. The elevator hummed to life and the two of them silently rode it to the bottom.

**Author's note: Sorry for not updating this sooner. I've been pretty busy this past weekend. Plus I didn't really know how to go about this chapter off the ground without making it totally suck ass from lack of effort. Sometimes I just have to be in the right mind set for the creative juices to flow. This usually happens around 11-12 P.M. But I hope you enjoy the work I put into this chapter and give this story some reviews. This story still has a little bit more to go. So sit tight and the remaining chapters will get posted. **

**For the part where Julia is looking at the newspaper clippings, try to imagine that the song **_**True**_** from Silent Hill 2 is playing to get a better feel for this chapter.**


	10. Lost in Hollywood

The elevator finally stopped at the ground floor of the hospital. Even though it had ceased moving, neither one of its occupants wanted to move just yet. Julia clung to Ryan, afraid that if she let go he'd disappear. She was both terrified and relieved that he was back, safe, and holding her in his arms. The warmth from his body was a constant reminder that no harm would ever come to her. He made no effort to let go; somehow knowing that she needed the support and care that he gave her. They sat against the wall of the elevator with Julia resting in Ryan's lap, her head against his chest. He had his arms wrapped around her shoulders and was slowly rocking her back and forth. The motion served to sooth her as well as himself for he too was just as terrified as she was.

"I'm not going anywhere" he said "I'm staying right here okay?"

There was no answer from Julia.

"Julia?" he said as he nudged her a bit. "Julia" he said again as he nudged her harder.

Looking down at her, Ryan saw that she was breathing softly. Her eyes were closed and when he picked her head up with his elbow, it flopped back. Julia was unconscious. He looked down and saw the gash in her leg as well as the amount of blood that had pooled onto the floor. They had been so caught up in the moment that he hadn't even noticed that she was injured.

"Damn it" he said as he lifted her up.

Getting off the floor of the elevator, Ryan took Julia in his arms. He was amazed at how little she weighed. Ryan went over to the buttons near the door and got the elevator to open. Soon he was moving as fast as he could down the hallway of the 1st floor towards the medicine room. Julia remained silent in his arms.

"Come on. I'm not going to leave you again" he said.

**III**

It was dark and cold. Julia had no idea where she was or how long she had been there. The last thing she remembered was Ryan coming to her rescue. How long ago had that been? Days? Weeks? A year? She didn't know. All that she knew now was that she was dreaming. It was funny. Normally she didn't realize that she was dreaming. Normally it felt like she was living in some fantasy world or reliving some past experience. But this time she knew that she was dreaming. It was almost unclear, but in the dream she could see herself running towards a woman. The mystery woman's back was to her but Julia knew in her heart that it was her Aunt Lisa. She just knew it. In the dream, no matter how much she ran, her aunt remained out of reach as if her running was a futile effort and she would be destined to forever chase after the loved one that she sought so much. The thought pained her greatly.

But the dream was fading as she was starting to stir. It fizzled and faltered as her consciousness came back to her. When she woke up, she found herself lying down on an old examination table. She looked to her right and saw Ryan sitting in a chair while examining the wound on her leg. He noticed that she was awake and moved up her body.

"Hey sunshine." He said as he reached for something. "Try not to move too much alright. I'm going to give you something. It's just water, but help me out here okay?"

As tired as she was, Julia nodded and sat up a little bit as Ryan eased the water bottle to her mouth. She took a few sips of it and laid back down.

"Man, are you a sight for sore eyes. What happened?" she asked in a fatigued tone. "Last thing I remembered was falling asleep while you held me"

Ryan took some water and poured it into a cloth. He then gently pattered her head with it to cool her down.

"You blacked out. Lost some blood from when those little bastards hit you. Plus you were exhausted"

"Where are we now?" she said as she brought a hand to her head.

"Back in the medicine room on the first floor" he replied.

"How long was I out?"

"Not long. Ten minutes at the most. Gave me enough time to sterilize, stitch and dress your wound. You should be able to walk. It'll hurt like a bitch but I'll give you some pain killers. I wouldn't recommend running though. Not unless you want to pop those stitches"

"Right, right" Julia said as she tried to sit up. "That's twice you've saved me. I owe you big time"

"No. You don't" he said in a serious voice. "You don't owe me a thing. When I entered the medical field I took an oath. It's my job to help people"

Julia smiled at him.

"Well, at least let me buy you dinner when we get out of here"

Ryan gave her a small smirk as he helped her so she wouldn't have to exert herself. She looked down and saw that her leg was bandaged just like he said. The white cloth was wrapped firmly with medical tape to keep it in place. Looking at him she saw that he looked a little different. Then she realized that he was missing some stuff. Not only that but he had a large gauze bandage wrapped around his arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

Ryan looked down at the gauze he had wrapped around his arm.

"Oh that" he said as he rotated his arm. "The shotgun jammed and I caught the blow-back when I tried to fire it." he said. "It's not bad, really. Second degree at most"

"Where's the shotgun now?"

"I left it in the basement. It was fried, so I had to get rid of it."

Julia looked at him, stunned, for a few moments.

"You went into the basement?" she asked, astounded.

"More like I fell into the basement"

"But…that was from the second floor stairwell. That had to have been at least a hundred feet strait down. How are you still alive?"

Ryan shrugged his shoulders.

"Guess I was born lucky" he said as he reached for the bottle of pain medication as well as another smaller bottle next to him.

"But…but…a hundred feet" Julia stammered.

"Look, try not to think about it" he said as he handed her two pills. "This place is so messed up that I'm gonna forget about questioning everything my brain doesn't agree with. Here, drink this" he said as he handed her the small bottle.

"What is it?" she asked as she looked at the bottle suspiciously.

"Just a health drink. It has ginseng and guarana in it. Should perk you right up. Date's good, so it isn't spoiled"

Julia took the pills and chased them with the health drink. Ryan sat next to her on the table. She noticed the two items that Ryan had with him.

"Where did the sword and tape come from?" she asked.

"Basement storeroom…and the morgue. I swear, people leave the weirdest stuff in the strangest places" he said as he ran his hand through his hair.

Julia noticed that he was turning away from her, like he was avoiding the subject. It was odd. Something must have been bothering him. He seemed uncomfortable whenever she mentioned the basement.

"Ryan, what happened to you down there?"

"I…I…don't want to talk…about it"

Julia sat up, scooted closer to him and got his attention.

"Ryan, whatever happened down there, you have to tell me. Keeping secrets from me, especially in this place, can get me killed. So, what happened to you in the basement?"

He took a deep breath then nodded several times.

"Okay. It's…like this. The basement was pretty much what I'd imagine…hell to be like. It was…just…man you really don't want to know. I don't even want to think about it. After checking all the doors that would open, I took a look in the morgue" he said as.

She watched him and noticed that what he was thinking about was causing him a great deal of stress. The memory was most likely tormenting him in someway. The signs of distress were evident on him. His hands had started shaking.

"It was a bad place. Really bad. I don't want to go into detail here. Lets just say I won't be sleeping for the next several months. Can I just leave it at that? Please?"

"Yeah. Fine"

Julia looked at the video tape, noticing the writing on it.

"Why does that tape have my Aunt's name on it?" she said, pointing to it.

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck then looked at her.

"I don't know" he said as he reached for the video tape. "But I think it was meant for you"

He handed it to her and she slowly took it.

"Try not to think of where it came from" he said as he got off the table.

Julia looked at him perplexed. Had the basement really been that bad? That's when Julia remembered what Ryan had looked like when she had seen him in the elevator. He had been distraught and had a large red stain on his face. The stain had since been removed, obviously washed off. Julia knew he wouldn't want to talk about it, but she had to get the question off her chest.

"When I saw you in the elevator, you had a bloody stain on your face. Ryan, what happened down there?"

He was visibly shaken. At first he just remained silent. Then he turned to her, took a deep breath and let it out.

"I ran into our nurse friends in the basement. If my gun hadn't jammed, I could have taken them all out. Not only that, but the elevator wouldn't come when I called it" he said as he tried to go on. The memories were painful to bring up. "They were…closing in around me. They…grabbed me, surrounded me. I thought…I thought I was going to die. I some how was able to break free of them and made it into the elevator. Then, just as I was safe, just as I thought that I had made it, the blood thing…punched through the door and grabbed me by the face"

He looked at her and then down at the floor. She almost thought that he was having a mental breakdown.

"That was the last thing I remembered before the elevator started moving and I blacked out. I keep going over the same events in my mind. Over and over again. I can't stop thinking about it"

Julia looked at him and realized that he was trembling. He didn't even need to speak for her to know that he was scared, maybe even traumatized. She put a hand on his arm to calm him.

"It's alright. It's over now, I think" she said.

Ryan looked at her and took her hand in his. They stared into each others eyes for a few moments, glad to be in each other's company. She was fixed on his dark brown eyes and he on her pale blue. It was so strange that a situation like this could bring two people together. As much as they wouldn't admit it to each other, in the short time that they had spent walking around Silent Hill, a bond had been growing between them. It could only be assumed that people who experienced a great tragedy together would have such a connection. They needed each other more than they were willing to say. She was so fixated on how handsome he was. And Ryan had to admit that she was a very pretty girl. He had never cared so much for anyone until right this moment. Even if she was practically a stranger to him. Julia reached up and stroked Ryan's face. He looked at her and she had a small look of fear in her features.

"There's nothing to be scared of" he said.

"That's not it" she replied. "When I saw you fall. I thought I'd…lost you"

Ryan reached up and took her hand gently in his.

"I know. I'm…sorry. I only wanted to protect you"

"You can protect me by staying with me" she said, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Got ya" he said

Julia realized what she was doing and collected herself. She started to blush as she moved away from him a bit.

"God. I feel so stupid"

"For what?" he asked.

"For coming here and putting myself in danger. For being weak. And for dragging you along for the ride…"

Ryan put a firm arm around her shoulder.

"You're not weak. I don't know many women who would be able to put up with all of this. You have more courage than you realize. So don't think for a second that you're weak. And don't be sorry for pulling me into all this. If there's one thing that you should know about me it's that I don't mind fighting for an impossible cause"

"Aw, you're sweet you know that?" she smiled

"Yeah" he chuckled. "You're not going to kiss me now are you?" Ryan joked.

Julia remained silent for a few moments as her heart fluttered in her chest. Some of her hair had come loose from her scrunchy and she reached up to let her hair down for a change. The locks of her dirty blonde hair fell down to her shoulders, some of it obscuring her right eye and face. When she opened her mouth again, she caught Ryan off guard.

"No. But I've been thinking about it"

Time slowed down for the two of them as they sat in the quite medicine room. The only sound came from their slow breathing. Julia turned to Ryan and inched closer and closer to him, till they were almost nose to nose. Then she tilted her head to the side and moved her lips closer to his mouth, closing her eyes. In a few short moments, she had made contact and was kissing him. She was surprised at how soft his lips were and was even more astounded at how he followed her lead. The warmth of his mouth mixed with hers and she wrapped her arms around him. He put his hands through her hair and stroked it gently and lovingly. They had become one. Two people had been brought together in the most unlikely place in the world and found solace in each other's arms. It had been so long since either of them had been with a member of the opposite sex. Their breaths escaped from their mouths and the warmth encircled their hair and faces. This was what they needed. To let love replace the fear and worry that had surrounded them for the past several hours. Even though they had only known each other for a short while, in their hearts, they knew what they were doing was right.

Soon they broke it off and Ryan got off the bed.

"Thank you" Julia said.

"Thank you" he replied. "So, you ready to get the hell out of here?" he asked as he looked at his watch. "Sunrise should be in another two hours or so"

"What's on the tape?" she asked.

"I don't know. I didn't watch it"

"I know where we can" Julia replied as she started to get up.

"Whoa, whoa. Take it easy." He said as he helped her up. "You're not ready to start walking just yet. It's best if you just take it easy for a few minutes"

"But I feel fine" she protested. "I know where their's a VCR and a TV. We have to watch this now!" she said.

"Alright, alright" he said as he collected his things. "But you're not moving without my help.

**III**

Ryan's help was nothing more than carrying her piggy back style. She had her arms wrapped around his chest as they walked to the elevator. He didn't seem to have any difficulty carrying her weight. The sword was fastened around the front of him so that it wouldn't get in her way.

"I can walk you know" she said.

"Better to be safe than sorry" he said over his shoulder.

She had mentioned the location of the TV and VCR on the third floor. Against their better judgment they marched on, knowing that something could be waiting for them upstairs. They made their way to the elevator and Ryan set Julia down, opened the doors, and helped her get inside. She stood with one hand holding onto a railing for balance. Ryan hit the button for the third floor and the car revved to life. Soon they were traveling back up to the top of the hospital. Ryan had collected what they could. Julia's pistol was down to half a clip. About five or six bullets remained in the weapon. But he had reassured her that if anything stood in their way, he'd just hack them to pieces with the sword he carried. Julia was hanging onto the video tape that Ryan had found in the basement. It smelled funny, but Julia thought that it would be better not to question where it had come from. All that mattered was that she was going to follow her trail of bread crumbs. She looked up at Ryan who had his back to her. It was good to know that she had someone to protect her. Even though she was capable of taking care of herself.

"What will you do when you get out of here?"

"Me? I'm going to go back to my life and try to forget that this place even exists. That, or I'm going to get myself a lot of therapy."

"No argument there" she said.

Just then, something moved in Ryan's pocket, making him jump a little. Perplexed, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the broken halves of his cell phone. It didn't make any sense. It was broken. Why would it be working? He looked at it then looked at Julia. He half heartedly pointed at her with his index finger.

"You didn't happen to bring any demon spawn into the car with us did you?"

"Uh, no…"

Slowly, feeling a bit stupid, Ryan pressed the button to answer the call and raised the broken pieces to his mouth and ear. At first all he could hear was just white noise. Then something started coming through.

"……………………Yooooooou…………………should………………staaaaaaaayed…………………meeeee……………..accept………………..faaaaaaaaaatee…….."

It almost sounded like a woman on the other end. But that could have just been his mind playing tricks on him. Then the message got clear. It was so clear that Ryan was wishing that he had just tossed the phone.

"It's your fault. You. Must. Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee!"

Ryan had an expressionless face as he lowered the phone from his head. He felt the color drain from his face as he swallowed hard. A new form of fear overtook him.

"What? What was it?" Julia asked, concerned.

Ryan turned to Julia and held out his hand.

"May I see your cell phone please?" he said in an unusually calm and monotone voice.

Uncomfortably, Julia reached into her pocket and fished out her cell phone. The second she gave it to Ryan, he threw it and his own phone on the floor of the car, grabbed the katana from its scabbard and started to hack at the small pieces of plastic. Plastic, microchips and key pads flew into the air as he chopped and kicked at the small devices. Julia covered her face as plastic sprayed into the air. When he was done, he leaned against the wall of the elevator, breathing heavily. Julia just looked at him stunned.

"What. The hell. Was that?" she asked.

Ryan snapped out of his funk and looked at her, then at the broken phones on the ground, then back at Julia again.

"Wrong number" he said.

**Author's note: Let me just say that I am not used to expressing the emotion of "love" in my writing. Hate and fear are emotions that I can easily put on paper. So I apologize if this chapter seems a little corny and out of place. Or if it just blows entirely. We'll get back to the gore and psycho drama in the next chapter. So don't feel turned off by this. This chapter is just kind of a learning experience for me. But at least I was able to sneak some spookiness into this chapter. That should hold you readers over till the next chapter.**

**Incase you guys haven't figured it out yet, I've been using the titles of various songs for the titles of my chapters (excluding chapters 2, 3). It was fun trying to find something that fit with tone of each chapter. In a sick and twisted way of sorts. Try to see what titles came from which bands for kicks and giggles.**


	11. Kiss

The rest of the elevator ride was carried out in silence. Ryan stood near the doors, his back leaning against an adjacent wall. A stoic look had plastered itself onto his face. He was mentally preparing himself. He wanted to be the first one out of the car just in case there were any nasty surprises waiting on the other end. Julia was still at the back of the car, propped up against the wall, trying to process why her companion had gone medieval on their cell phones.

"He looked like he'd seen a ghost or something" she thought as she eyed him suspiciously.

As grateful as she was to have someone with her, protecting her, Julia was starting to become worried about his behavior. She remembered that he had been complaining of headaches earlier and assumed that they were a direct result of the car accident that he had been in. Staring at the black bandana wrapped around his head, she noticed that it was stained an ugly rust color. The head injury he had sustained had obviously stopped bleeding and cauterized. Yet still he wore the cloth, perhaps too preoccupied by the night's events. She had to wonder just how much of a blow to the head he had taken. Fear and trauma she could understand. But his violent outburst had made her wonder just how bad of a shape he might be in.

"_I keep spacing out and hallucinating. Like some stuff is just a mirage or something. It's like my mind is playing tricks on me"_

His words from their conversation hours ago echoed through her memory. She knew for a fact that they had both seen the nurse things as well as the other monstrosities. But Ryan was seeing and hearing things that she wasn't. And to make matters worse, he was acting upon what he was experiencing. This all struck her as frighteningly odd. More odd than what they had been through the whole night. What had happened to them was tangible. But what was happening to Ryan was happening inside his head. Julia started to become concerned for she had never heard of a minor concussion developing into a full blown psychosis. It was entirely possible that he had gotten hit a little harder than he originally thought. Not that she was jumping to any conclusions. Just that he could be starting to bend underneath all the pressure that they had been under. She just hoped that they would both be strong enough not to snap.

"You alright now?" she asked as the elevator continued to hum.

"Just peachy" he replied rubbing his head.

He looked at her with tired eyes. Eyes that were in desperate need of rest. Julia noticed dark patches underneath his eyes that she hadn't noticed before. They almost made him look like a raccoon. How long had it been since this man had gotten a decent nights sleep?

"I was looking to a buy a new phone but you could have warned me that you were going to do that" she said, clearly annoyed that he had destroyed her mobile.

"Sorry. I got spooked" he replied, glancing over to her.

"What could you possibly have to be spooked about? That couldn't have been the first time in you life that you got a weird phone call. I mean, given our circumstances I could understand. But still"

"Yeah, yeah" he replied in a tone that basically translated to 'fuck off'.

The elevator lurched to a stop and both of their hearts started to beat in anticipation. They exchanged worried glances, knowing full well what was waiting for them on the other side of the elevator doors. Ryan wanted to be ready to take out any of the little critters waiting on the other end of the door. There were a lot of them the last time that they had visited the floor. He was hoping that he would have the skills with the katana to cut a path through them if necessary.

"You ready?" he said as his hand rested on the 'door open' button.

All Julia did was nod as she leveled her pistol at the door. Ryan could tell that she was trying to mask her fear with courage. He smiled inwardly to himself. He respected that in people. Especially in women.

"Real Joan of Arc style" he thought as he pressed the button. "Let's do this" he said.

The doors parted and like a fool, Ryan rushed out into the small opening of the elevator entrance way yelling and ready to do some damage.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" he yelled as he swung his sword through the air.

The sword made deep "swish" noises as it swept through the air. His screams died out as he realized that there was darkness there and nothing more. He looked back at Julia who was still waiting in the car of the elevator, giving her a startled yet confused look. This wasn't exactly what he was expecting to find. She started to limp out to where he stood. The parts of their phones crunched under her feet.

"This doesn't make any sense" she said as she looked about the area. "There were a ton of them here. You saw them…right?"

"Sure did" he replied, letting his arm and the sword drop to his side.

"Where the hell did they go?"

"Don't know. They were right here. Now they're not. Hell, maybe they went to take a coffee break or something. Kinda makes me wonder how all those monster skanks made their way to the basement so fast."

"Look", she said as she moved closer to the wooden door.

The walked closer to the door and inspected it. Ryan took the flashlight and shinned it at the door. The beam traveled up and down the old cedar door. There wasn't a scratch on it. It was perfect, like new. It was as if had taken no damage from when the monster children broke through.

"This thing was in…splinters last time I saw it" Julia said as she limped past Ryan and to the door.

He grabbed her, putting her arm around his shoulder to help her walk. With his free hand, Ryan turned the knob and cautiously led her through to the other side. Like the place they'd just been standing in, the hallway was deserted. There was no trace that anything out of the ordinary had occurred. They moved forward with Ryan trying to juggle Julia, his sword, and flashlight all at once. The sound of their footsteps echoed through the hall. It was a lonely sound that served as a reminder to how deserted the whole hospital seemed. Within several feet, they had reached the double doors that separated the hallway. Julia was stunned to see that these doors were back to their original state, before the little monsters had attacked. That was when Julia spotted something familiar lying on the ground.

"Hey" Julia said as she tried to break away from Ryan.

"What'd you find?" he asked, shinning the flashlight past her.

Julia stooped down and picked up the large piece of metal. The pipe had been laying in the hallway, the shoulder strap still attached to it. Without thinking, she looped the strap around her and attempted to move through the doors before Ryan came to assist her. They proceeded through the double doors and down the rest of the hall. It wasn't long before they came across the room that Julia was looking for.

"Here", she said, putting her hand on the door. "The TV was in this room"

Ryan put the flashlight in his mouth, gripping it with his teeth before reaching for the door knob and turning it. The old wooden door creaked open and the two stepped into the old room. Immediately noticing the bed, Ryan led Julia over to it and sat her down before taking in their surroundings. He seemed generally surprised to see the TV and VCR.

"Here, rest for a bit" he told her as he set her down, making sure to avoid the metal spring that was shooting out of the mattress. When she was settled, he started inspecting the room a bit more.

**III**

"What are you going to tell your family when you get home?" he asked as he walked around the small area, looking at the few furnishings.

"Well, I'm going to tell my mom that she was right. I'm going to tell her that I never should have left home and I'm going to carry all this baggage to my grave without telling another soul", she said as she drummed her fingers on the VHS tape she held, absentmindedly. The pistol sat next to her.

"How are you going to explain those injuries?" Ryan asked as he halfheartedly pointed to her.

"I'll work on that one. Chances are that my mom will completely fly off the handle and wonder what the hell I got myself into"

"You and your mom don't get along?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh, no. We get along just fine. It's just that we…disagree on some stuff from time to time. She didn't really think kindly of my aunt though. My mother thought that Aunt Lisa turned her back on us years ago when she wouldn't contact us or write or anything. We would disagree about that. She was real adamant about me not coming to Silent Hill. Mother daughter stuff. You know how it is"

"Wouldn't know"

"What do you mean?" Julia asked, suddenly uneasy at his strange response.

"I mean is that I never knew who my parents were. I", he placed a hand on his chest, "grew up in an orphanage as a kid. It was run by nuns. It sucked. So I got out of there as soon as I could and tried to make it on my own. Big mistake to say the least" he lamented as he leaned against a wall.

"You…you lived on the streets?"

"Uh huh" he nodded. "For a few years. Shocking, I know" he smirked. "It was rough. I did what I had to in order to survive. It's amazing that I was able to keep myself from getting arrested. I stole, mugged, and slept where I could. I ran with a gang for a short while but it didn't offer me what I was looking for"

"And what were you looking for?"

"What I've always been looking for since day one. A family. A _real_ family. Someone to _love me_ or someone for me to love. Anyway", he said waving her off, "I was moving drugs for a period of time and a deal went sour. I'll spare you the details but I got my ass kicked and left in the gutter to die. I figured that was going to be the end of me. My life was going to be over before it had even started. And the worst part was that I had put myself in that position. I screwed up and I was going to pay for it. Then _he _showed up"

"_He_?" Julia asked, confused.

"This priest"

"A priest?"

Yeah, a priest. I swear it was like something out of a movie. I was laying there, cold and wet, choking on my own blood when I hear footsteps. I look up and he's standing over me. And I know it sounds crazy, but I see this _aura_ coming off this guy. Like a good vibe or something. He reaches his hand down to me, offering it to me, and says 'Come on son. Let's get you home'"

"Wow"

"Yeah. I had never been really religious up until that point, but he showed me the way. The guy's name was Father Steve. He took me into the church, cleaned me up, clothed me, fed me, and gave me a home. And yeah, I know I was in a group home run by nuns. That's a moot point. The point is, is that the man helped me turn my life around. He taught me good things, got me back into school, and raised me through the rest of my adult life. I helped around the church for a long time before going off to school. The man had cared for me so…I wanted to care for others. Father Steve was the whole reason I went into the field of nursing. Before I left to start my life I asked him 'Why would you stop to help a street punk like me?' He told me 'You don't need a reason to help people'. That's something I live by every day"

"Do you two stay in contact? Where is he now?"

Ryan looked away from her and turned his attention to the old brick wall of the room they were in. Julia heard him inhale deeply and let the breath out. She could have sworn that he was going to cry. He half turned back to her with sad eyes. They looked read and puffy.

"He…passed away. A few months back. I caught news of it one morning while I was reading the paper"

Julia thought for a few moments until a memory of their earlier conversation entered her head.

"Wait. How can you be an orphan?" She asked, puzzled. "I thought you said you had a brother"

Ryan stayed silent for a few moments then opened his mouth "Just because I was an orphan doesn't mean I didn't have a sibling"

Julia noticed that the subject was troubling him deeply. Like an old wound that had cut very deep into him. She debated whether or note to continue questioning him but thought that it was most likely for the best. The man had to face whatever demons he was holding onto.

"What happened to your brother Ryan?" she asked, concerned for him and knowing that something must have been amiss.

"He killed himself. Shot himself in the head a few years back" he said, getting it out into the open and then starting to sob to himself, attempting to cover it up and retain his masculinity.

Julia looked at him, stunned. She saw tears fall down his cheeks in the low light and was about to cry herself. She couldn't have known that was what his life had been like. To never have a real family and then to lose the two people that had meant so much to him was a pain that would not have healed in such a short time. Ryan was still trying to work his way through the loss. Julia had no idea that he was still in so much pain. And for him to have to bury that, it must have been extremely difficult.

"I'm… sorry. So very sorry. That must have been pretty hard" she said, hanging her head and sniffing back the tears that she cried for him.

Ryan nodded his head and sniffed.

"Yep" he said as he ran his sleeve under his nose. "So, whatever problems you may have with your family. Whatever trial and tribulation you may go through, just remember this; all they want to do is protect and do what's right for you. Be thankful that you have them and never take them for granted. Cause one day, you may not have them anymore"

The both were silent for a very long time. The lack of noise was unsettling to both of them. Ryan stood properly and looked about the room for a few moments. He started to rub his arms and soon realized how cold it was in the room. He spoke to Julia, changing the subject.

"Is it just me or does it feel a bit chilly in this room?"

"I don't notice anything" she said as she pushed some of her hair out of her face.

Silently, Ryan started to move around the small room. He moved his hand over the bricks of the wall. Julia watched him, not knowing exactly what he was doing. He stopped when he stood behind the TV in the room.

"What in the…?" he said as he slid his hand over the bricks.

"What? What did you find?" Julia asked as she got off the bed.

"There's air moving here. Through the wall" he said as he pushed at the mortar.

He turned back to her and extended his hand towards the wall.

"What's behind here anyway?" he asked

"I don't know", Julia said, shrugging her shoulders. "There should be room on the other side of that wall. I couldn't get into it. This was the only room in this hall where the door would open"

With a few short pushes on the wall, Ryan displaced some of the bricks. The cold air intensified, like a strong winter breeze. He took a few steps back before looking through the hole that he had made. Fishing the flashlight out of his pocket, he turned it on and pointed into the hole. The beam moved through the dark but Ryan was unable to see farther than a few feet. Whatever was behind the wall, it wasn't another room. It was a tunnel.

"Holy crap. There's a tunnel through here. Whoever the contractor for this place was, I don't think this was in the original building schematics"

"But, the map doesn't point to anything besides another room behind that wall. That can't be right"

Ryan scooped up the metal pipe that Julia had taken off and set on the bed next to the pistol. Before she could even react, Ryan had taken a batter's stance. A second later and he was whacking at the wall with the cudgel. Loud clangs resonated through the room. Little by little, the bricks were smashed away from their resting place, small chunks of brick and mortar fell at Ryan's feet. Soon he was staring at a small opening about five feet high and three feet wide. It would be a tight squeeze, but he could get through. Setting the pipe back down and scrapping some of the grime off himself, he grabbed his flashlight and sword and started to go through the opening.

"Wait! Where do you think you're going?" she protested.

Ryan turned back to her and raised a hand.

"I'm curious. All I want to do is take a peek on the other side of the looking glass"

"Oh yeah, that's a fantastic idea. And after that why don't we both strip naked and run through the streets screaming 'Free Eats!' Have you not been paying attention to what we've seen tonight?" she said in a sarcastic, mocking tone.

"Relax.", he said while giving her a tired, annoyed look. "You chill here and watch what's on that security tape. I'll be back"

"And what if you don't!? What if something happens to you? What about everything that you said about never leaving me again! Any of that ring a bell to you?" she yelled.

Ryan walked over to her and sat her back down. He kneeled down in front of her so that he was eye level with her.

"Listen. I'm not going to break my promise. I'm just going to take a little look and see what there is to see. Someone went to all this trouble to wall that tunnel up. So there must be something important on the other side"

"But…" she continued to protest.

Ryan held a single finger to her lips to shush her.

"Relax. There," he said pointing to the hole, "And back. I'll be only a few minutes. Then we can get the hell out of this crazy fuck-ass town. Agreed?"

Julia didn't like him leaving her alone again, but the look in his eyes was enough to reassure her. There would be little harm in letting him go and explore. At least she hoped that 'little harm' was all that there would be.

"Make it quick. I hate this place"

"You got it" he said with a smile.

Ryan ran his hand through her hair and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. He walked to the hole and started to duck inside. When he was halfway through, he turned back to her.

"Back in a few. If I'm gone for more than a day, send a search party" he grinned.

"If you're gone for more than a day I'm leaving your ass and getting the hell out of here"

"Just watch your tape" he chuckled and disappeared into the wall.

From all the black clothing he wore, it seemed like he fused into the darkness of the tunnel. Soon his footsteps echoed and faded away. Julia sighed as she picked up the VHS and shoved it into the VCR. She tapped the power button on the TV and was surprised to see it flash to life. The whole room was illuminated in an eerie blue glow. It was almost otherworldly even considering the environment that she was in. Julia fiddled with the controls until she landed on a setting that would allow her to play the tape.

"Okay Aunt Lisa, lets see what you left behind"

**Author's note: I originally intended for this to be my second to last chapter. However, I kind of got carried away. Not that this is a bad thing. It just means that I got to flesh out some back story and build the characters a bit. Get ready, cause I've set the stage for the final act. I don't want to go as far as to say it will be intense, but it will defiantly take you by surprise. Sit tight and we'll see what happens.**

**The quote "You don't need a reason to help someone" came from Final Fantasy IX. Is that a bit geeky? Perhaps. But it's a good quote and is something that I try to live my life by. And to clear up any confusion, the title of this chapter **_**is**_** a reference to a Korn song.**


	12. Raining all the time

Ryan slowly made his way down the dark corridor. His shoes tapped upon making contact with the stone walkway. It seemed that the farther he went down the tunnel, the colder it got. The whole area stank of mold and stagnant water and there was a clammy feeling in the tunnel that he couldn't shake. The feeling clung to him like a second skin, refusing to let go. He had never liked the cold or the winter season, so his displeasure at venturing deeper into the tunnel was increasing. Ryan's initial enthusiasm had dissolved into misery as the temperature kept dropping. Over the flashlights beam, he could see his own breath billow out. Small wisps of white smoke came and went like an after thought. It was about that point that the shivering set in. He silently wondered how long it would take for hypothermia to set in within these old walls.

"This was a _great_ idea" he said, chastising himself. "Hey! Let's go explore a tunnel that isn't supposed to exist in a hospital where the basement is falling to hell and all the staff are trying to kill you. Not to mention that this is all happening in the worst place imaginable on Earth. Who's fucking brilliant idea was that?"

He knew full well that he had put himself into his current position. If anything, he knew he should just stop talking to himself, see what there was down the tunnel, and get back to Julia before anything unpleasant happened to either of them. But what he couldn't shake off was the feeling that something had drawn him to the tunnel. It was _something_ he couldn't resist. Some otherworldly force had compelled him to go deeper and see what was walled up. But that was just…

"Crazy" he said, putting a hand to his head and shaking out the thought. "I found this by accident and got curious. Nothing pulled me or pushed me to do this. I'm doing this all on my own. Why? Hell if I know"

He stopped walking and stood in the dark tunnel for a few moments and thought to himself.

"Man, I really got to stop talking to myself" he thought. That's when he noticed the horrible smell coming off of himself. He turned his nose up at the stench. "And I have to take a _really _long shower when I get out of this town" he said with an exasperated sigh.

After all he had done throughout the night it was no wonder that he smelled like he had been rolling around in road kill. He shuddered as he thought about how unclean he must have been. Working in a hospital, he had become used to staying in a state of cleanliness. Being this filthy took him out of his comfort zone. Ryan continued down the tunnel. As impossible as it seemed, he felt that he had walked farther in one direction than the length of the rest of the hallway. He had neither gone up, down, left or right. He had been walking in the same direction and had seen the same stone walkway for the last few minutes. The third floor hallway had to end sometime. What he was experiencing had to be defamation to the laws of space and time.

"Jesus, how long does this thing go on for?" he wondered as he squinted in the darkness.

He got his answer as his light shined on an object in the distance. It was something that was starkly different from the rest of the stone tunnel. Whatever it seemed to be, it stood out like a sore thumb. Nearing closer, he was perplexed to find himself staring back at an old wooden door. Having no other direction to go, he grabbed at the knob and turned it. The old door budged with surprising ease, bits of dirt and grime fell out of the open doorway. It seemed that no one had been through the entrance in a very long time. Stepping through, Ryan was faced with a small room. While that should have been normal, it was what the room was lacking that struck him as strange and out of place.

"Where the hell is the floor?" he thought looking down into the abyss.

Where the floor should have been, there was only a huge dark hole. Ryan pointed the flashlight down into the darkness, only to find that there was nothing to make contact with. It seemed that the drop was immense. The entire area was a dead end. There was nothing of importance down the tunnel after all. Ryan started to turn back the way he had come, agitated that he had ventured down the stone tunnel for nothing. Suddenly, a strong, unseen force came out of nowhere and ran into him. His momentum was thrown forward, closer to the giant hole. Teetering on the precipice, he tried in vain to regain his footing. Ryan couldn't help it. He was sliding on the edge of the abyss. At the last second, his feet touched nothingness and he fell into the dark.

The impact hurt. A lot. He had no idea of how far the drop was. All he knew was that it was enough to knock the wind out of him. Ryan lay on the cold ground, clutching his chest and wheezing. The lack of oxygen in his lungs had a suffocating effect on him. He hated the feeling. It felt like dying a very slow death. A death that one could see coming a mile away. He struggled to breathe as his lungs began to expand once again. Coughing, he got up took in his surroundings. He looked up but all he could make out was more blackness.

"Hmm…must not have been as high as I thought" he said, getting up and dusting himself off.

High or not, it still was long enough to put a dent in him. Taking a look around him, he saw that he was in a near identical stone hallway to the one he had been walking in above. The only difference was that it was colder and more unbearable. He had no idea where he was in the hospital. It was possible that he could be in the walls but that didn't make much sense. There was too much length for the whole area to be confined to the walls of the hospital. Or to even be in the hospital itself. The whole place just seemed to go on and on forever.

"Who the hell builds a stone catacomb in the walls of a hospital anyway?" he wondered. "Probably crazy people"

He continued to walk forward, his only given direction. He started to notice that the flashlight was beginning to show signs of battery failure. The small light had turned from a bright white glow to an ugly orange color. Time would tell how much longer it would hold out. Ryan walked and shivered while he lamented on his predicament. He forced himself not to be afraid. Then again, it was quite difficult to do that. Humans naturally feel afraid of the unknown. But Ryan couldn't afford to be afraid. He wanted to know what was down the tunnel and besides, fear was for pussies.

"All I wanted was a nice vacation. I didn't want to step into my worst nightmare. A quiet get away, watch the sun rise over the water, meet a nice woman and get some much needed R and R. Was that so much to ask? And here I am, falling down a pit that leads to God knows where"

From somewhere in the dark, Ryan heard a sound like feet slapping on stone, making him jump. He forced his ears to pinpoint the sound as he swept the dark with his flashlight. With his other hand he gripped the katana. His heart started to beat in anticipation, not knowing what he was going to run into. The sound was soft and the acoustics of the area made it hard to tell where it was coming from. He could almost swear that someone was running around. Suddenly, heard another noise. It was more distinct than the running sound.

"Hehehe!" came the sound of a small child's laughter.

Turning around to face the source of the noise, Ryan's eyes widened, unable to grasp what he was seeing. It wasn't physically possible. His mind couldn't, no, _wouldn't _accept it. He couldn't be seeing what he was seeing in front of him. Not here, not now and not ever. Shutting his eyes, he tried to block out what was in front of him, as if closing his eyes tightly and then re-opening them again would clear his head. When he opened his eyes again the small figure was still standing before him.

"I'm not seeing this" he said out loud, denying the sight.

"Of course you're seeing _me_" came the small voice.

The little girl was standing in the middle of the stone tunnel, grinning a big happy grin. She wore a pale blue hospital gown and nothing else, her bare legs poked out from underneath the fabric. She held her hands behind her back, like she was keeping something from view. Swaying back and forth on her heels playfully, the girl of eight smiled at Ryan. She was missing several teeth, presumably baby teeth. He was unnerved at how pleasant the child was being. But what was making him even more afraid was the fact that he was staring at a dead person.

"You…you…you can't be here right now" he said, pointing a shaking finger at the small girl. "I'm not seeing you. My mind is messing with me"

"I…I…I sure can be here right now" she replied, mocking him.

"But you're…you're…d…d…"

"Dead? You can say it. It does appear to be that way doesn't it?"

The little girl smiled at him then stopped when she saw that Ryan didn't find the situation funny in the slightest bit.

"Oh, what? You don't seem very happy to see your old friend Lydia. I thought you'd like to catch up on old times. Have a nice chat"

Ryan shook his head and started to walk past her. He was trying desperately to deny what was in front of his eyes.

"I'm not seeing you, I'm not hearing you. You're not here. All you are is just a figment of my imagination brought on by stress"

The little girl trotted to keep up with him. She ran past him and started to jog backwards so that she could face him while he walked. Lydia still seemed generally happy to be around him. She had a look on her face like she wanted to share a very funny joke. Ryan subconsciously noted that for a small child, she certainly seemed to talk like an adult. But he shook off that thought. His mind was messing with him and he desperately wished that it would stop.

"Hmmm…." She hummed, putting a hand to her chin and looking like she was thinking really hard. "If I was a figment of your imagination, could I do this?" she said as she stopped in front of him.

Before he could even react the Lydia had wound back her little fist and drove her arm towards Ryan. Her fist hit him strait in the genitals. It took all of two seconds for a sharp, stabbing pain to shoot through his pelvis, crippling him instantly. He fell to his knees, dropping his katana in the process. The large piece of metal made a large clang sound as it made contact with the stone walkway. Ryan cupped his privates in pain with the now empty hand while squinting his eyes. He was also trying like hell not to throw up as the pain started to travel into his chest, making him queasy. He heard Lydia come closer to him and could feel her presence. The small girl crouched down so that she was eye level with him.

"See? I'm real" she smiled.

Ryan tried to grasp what was happening. It didn't seem physically possible. Lydia had died months ago, yet he was talking to her. And she was punching him in the balls. He attempted to stand as the pain in his crotch died out, picking his sword back up. He was still a bit sore but it wouldn't last long. Best thing to do would just be to suck it up and keep moving. But to where? He had no idea.

"Okay…so maybe…you are real" he coughed. "But that doesn't explain why you're alive. Or why you're here of all places alive. Or assaulting me. Or…wait" he said as he looked at her, scrunching his face in confusion. "Why am I talking to a dead girl? I'm not doing this" he said as he started to walk past her.

"Oh, what?" she protested with her hands on her hips. "You think you're _too good_ to talk to a dead person? Well FUCK YOU mister big shot male nurse" the little girl said, giving Ryan _the finger_. "Why don't you go back to killing more people if that's what gets you off? I bet your little bitch friend would _love_ that!"

That statement made Ryan stop dead in his tracks. He started to turn back around to look at the little girl.

"What did you say?" he asked, stunned.

But Lydia was already gone, almost like she had vanished into thin air.

**III**

Julia had just gotten the VHS tape to play and was sitting on the bed in anticipation. She was both excited and scared at the same time. She didn't know what she was going to see. All she could hope for was that it would give her some of the answers she had been searching for.

"Come on, come on" she said impatiently, tapping on the VCR.

As if on demand, an image sparked to life on the small monitor. Julia held her breath as an image of a woman came into view. Whoever had been controlling the camera, they kept it pointed right on the woman. Her face was obscured. The woman had her head down, her hands covering them. It was impossible to tell what her expression or state of mind was. All Julia could make out of the video was that the woman was seated at a table. She was dressed like…

"Aunt Lisa?" Julia wondered aloud to herself.

The woman, from the chest up, was wearing a cream colored nurse's blouse with a red sweater over it. Her hair was a noticeable, dirty blonde color. The exact same as Julia's. Could it be? Could the woman seated at the table be her aunt? She received her answer when the woman started to speak. Without even bothering to move her head or hands, the woman spoke to the camera, or the camera person.

"What is it? Still has an unusually high fever…"

"Eyes don't open…"

"Getting a pulse…but just barely breathing. Her skin is all charred! Even when I change the bandages the blood and pus just start oozing through!"

"Why…What is keeping that child alive? I…can't stand it any longer…I won't tell a soul…promise. So please…"

Then that was it. The tape cut out and static began to play. It was no mistake. The woman in the video was Lisa Garland. The sound was so clear for what had to be a very aged video. Julia stared back at the screen in disbelief. She had finally gotten a good clear look at her aunt, had even heard her voice. But the footage had left more questions then it had answered. What had happened to her aunt?

She was obviously very distraught over a patient that she had been taking care of. The description was enough to make Julia cringe. _Charred skin, blood and pus. A child that was just clinging to life_. Was that what her aunt had to go through? Had she been in charge of something like that day in and day out? It was no wonder why she would have wanted to get away from all that. The stress must have been incredible. But was it enough to make her want to move away from Silent Hill. To start a new life? Julia would never know. She sighed as she went to turn off the TV in frustration. The video had answered nothing. Just as she reached for the power switch, an image buzzed to life, making her take a limping step back.

This time there was a view of what had to be a newer security camera. It was odd because Julia didn't think equipment that advanced was around back then. She stared intently at the screen and her heart leaped when she saw her aunt walk into view, her long hair traveled down the length of her back and was kept in place by a modest nurse's cap. She was wearing the same clothes that Julia remembered her wearing. If it wasn't for the near lack of sound, she would swear that her aunt's red heels were making "click" noises on the wooden floor.

The woman looked like she was in a hurry. Her legs moved in an almost near blur. All of a sudden, Dr. Kuafman came into view. Julia recognized the man instantly from the few pictures that she had seen throughout the night. The doctor moved in fast and grabbed Lisa's arm. Immediately she jerked it away and turned to face the man. Even without any sound, Julia knew that Lisa was screaming and yelling at the man, telling him off. This went on for several seconds and then the tape cut out again. Julia was left dumbfounded as electric snow danced across the screen. What had her Aunt been doing all these years? Why had she gotten into an altercation with the doctor? There were just too many unanswered questions floating around. And watching the footage on the tape was making her very uncomfortable.

"Jeez" she said looking at the VCR. "And I thought you'd be my shot at getting the answers I wanted"

She started to reach for the power switch again when the footage blurred to life again. Julia decided to sit back down on the bed, not knowing what she was going to see this time. It was entirely possible that the tape was showing signs of age. Not letting all the footage play smoothly.

An image flashed to life but it wasn't what she expected to see. It wasn't footage of Alchemilla Hospital or her aunt or even footage from the town. It was another, more modern hospital and the view was of a patient's room. The colors were brighter and the footage seemed like it had been shot only weeks ago. And on a digital camera no less. Julia sat on the edge of the bed as a lone figure came into view. It didn't seem possible. What she was seeing couldn't be on the tape or even in the town of Silent hill.

With wide eyes, Julia watched as the person was captured on film.

"Ryan?" she said, unwilling to believe what was before her eyes.

**III**

"Man this is bullcrap" Ryan said to himself as he kept walking down the lonely corridor. "I came here for a vacation. Not to be walking around fucking nightmare land, poking my head into places it doesn't belong, killing things that shouldn't exist, and getting punched in the balls by goddamn ghost girls"

He stopped when he saw that the tunnel he was in ended. Another wooden door was staring back at him.

"And now I have to go through another wooden door. Perfect."

Walking up to the door, he noticed that there was writing on it in huge red lettering. It seemed like the beginning of a children's nursery rhyme or something.

One, two. We're through with you!

"What the hell does that mean?" Ryan thought.

"Well? Aren't you going to go through the door?" came an unseen voice.

Ryan spun around and the elderly man stared strait back at him. He was dressed in a hospital gown and hooked up to a dialysis machine. The little monitor beeped steadily on the small cart it rested on. The old man just stood there with his hands folded over his chest. He had a half-gleeful, half bored look in his eyes. Ryan shook his head as he tried to snap himself out of the daze. The old patient looked at him and held up a hand.

"Look, I'll save us a round of twenty questions. Yes, I'm dead. Yes, you're seeing and hearing me. No, you're not dreaming. Yes, this is all really happening. And finally: Yes, you do have to go through that door"

Ryan stared back at the man in disbelief, unable to fully comprehend the words.

"Why is this happening to me? Why are you here? And what if I choose not to go through that door?"

The man raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

"Wow, that's a good one. Wasn't expecting that. You know, you sure ask a lot of questions where the answers are right in front of you. Guess there isn't a reason for everything is there?" he shrugged. "Bottom line is if you don't go through that door, then you won't have learned anything. But hey. It's your choice. Not like I give a rat's ass what you do. You've got some issues you need to clear up. I'm just trying to help you kid"

Ryan turned back to the door, wondering if he should still go through.

"What issues? Help me how?" he said as he turned to face the man again.

And he was gone. Vanished, just like Lydia.

"God damn it" he breathed before heading to the door. "What is it that I'm supposed to learn?"

He hesitated for a few moments before grabbing the knob and turning it. Heading through the doorway, he saw that there was an identical wooden door staring straight back at him. Without missing a beat, he went through it and the three after that. All of them had writing on them, finishing the nursery rhyme.

Three, four. You're life's a bore!

Five, six. No more conflicts

Seven, eight. Accept your fate.

Nine, ten. Step into the lion's den.

"And now I'm starting to see a theme develop here" he thought as he went through the remaining doors.

**III**

The last door had made its promise. Stepping through, Ryan saw that he was in a large, circular room. It was completely dark except for a lone light bulb dangling from the ceiling. Sitting underneath the light bulb was a solitary wheel chair. And sitting in the chair, smiling a big grin was Lydia. She raised her small arms and started to give a half hearty round of applause.

"Congratulations. The last horse finally crosses the finish line, huh?"

"Why is this happening to me! How can you be here now?" Ryan yelled to the small girl.

Lydia's smile faded and she hopped off the wheel chair.

"Oh please. You still haven't figured it out yet? You _really_ _are_ in denial aren't you?"

Ryan was speechless. Not knowing what else to say at this point.

"That's okay" she said extending her arms out to the side. "I brought some friends with me to help clear things up."

From out of the darkness there came sounds of limping and squeaking like something was being dragged on old rusted wheels. Ryan started to hyperventilate as Lydia was joined by another male child and three adults. All were wearing the attire of hospital patients. Ryan recognized them all. There was the small boy from his dream, the one with the melting face. The man with the dialysis machine and the burned man he had seen in the streets appeared behind the boy. And finally there was an elderly woman that had obviously undergone chemotherapy. Her head was completely devoid of hair. They all formed a small crowd before him, like a jury, ready to cast a final judgment on a criminal.

"Do you remember me?" asked the small boy. "I was one of your patients. We hung out a lot, played video games and traded stories. You were like a big brother to me. I didn't have many friends, so it was nice to find someone to connect with." he said with an unwavering glare. "I knew I didn't have much time. People with Osteogenesis imperfecta usually don't. But you helped me make the most of it"

The burned man spoke next. "What about me? Huh? All you had to do was watch over me and keep me comfortable. But you couldn't even do that could you?"

Ryan dropped to one knee, letting go of his sword and grabbing his head with both hands. He wanted to deny what was happening.

"Stop it!" he screamed.

The dialysis man stepped forward. "How hard is it to get a dying man the right amount of pain medication? You didn't even have to use it all, just had to _administer _the right amount. All you had to do was double check with the physician or the pharmacists. But you couldn't even do that correctly"

"NO!" Ryan screamed, thrashing his head. The headache was intensifying.

And finally the old woman spoke last. "Do you remember what I said to you? Do you remember our talks? All I wanted was to not waste away. I didn't want this cancer to get the better of me. I asked for a way to ease the pain, to end it. Young man, you took that wish a bit too far didn't you?" she asked with a disappointed voice.

Finally Lydia spoke up. "And me, I was waiting for an organ donation. Guess my time ran out a little too fast, huh?"

"Please, no more" he said as he fell to his other knee and started to curl into a fetal position. "I'm not seeing this. Why is this happening!" I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WROOOOOOONNGGGGG!" he yelled before his cries devolved into sobs.

The patients all seemed to vanish one by one. Only Lydia was left. She walked over to Ryan and stood behind him.

"I'm…not crazy. At least…I don't think I am" he cried.

"Oh, of course you're not sweetheart. You just have to come to terms with what you did." Lydia said as she wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his back. The sensation was so real.

"What…I did?" he thought in his confused trauma.

From somewhere in the dark, Ryan heard a door open and close and the soles of shoes squeak on the ground. Lydia let go of him and backed off into the dark.

"Ah, the guest of honor has arrived. I'll leave you two alone" she said before disappearing again.

**III**

Ryan looked up and saw Julia walking towards him. He didn't know how she had gotten down to where he was. He was even more up in arms at how she could make the trip with her injuries. But Ryan didn't care about any of that. He couldn't have been happier to see her. After all the messed up stuff he'd been through it was good to finally see someone who could bring him back to reality. He ran over to her but as he drew closer, he saw that she had a horrible expression on her face. He couldn't be quite certain. But it looked like she was very, very upset with him.

"Julia! Oh my God, what are you doing down…"

The moment that he got close enough to her, she lashed out, slapping him hard across the face.

"Ow! What the hell?!" he said, putting his hand to his face.

Ryan looked up at her and she looked back down at him with a cold and unwavering stare.

"You bastard" she said.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked as he reached out to her.

She quickly moved back and moved her hands up in front of herself, like she didn't even want him to make contact with her.

"Don't touch me!" she said, not even looking into his face.

"Julia I don't understand"

"I saw the tape Ryan. I know what you did"

"What are you talking about? What I did? I don't…"

"Save it" she said, interrupting him. "You're sick. You…disgust me. I can't believe that a person like you could even walk the planet right now"

"What are you saying? What was on the tape?

But Julia didn't answer him. All she did was turn her back and walk towards the door. To Ryan's shock, she closed the door behind her. She was going to leave him here to die.

"NO! DON'T GO! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" he yelled as he ran after her.

But the door just seemed to vanish as soon as it was closed, leaving him locked in the chamber. He pounded on the walls with his fists in desperation. Ryan felt his mind snap and he collapsed on the floor, unable to grasp what was happening.

"Why?" he breathed. "Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?"

"Are you still so inept that you haven't figured it out yet?" Lydia's voice called out from the dark. "Fine," he heard her scoff. "I'll spell it out for you"

Ryan watched as she came out of the dark and sat back down in the wheel chair underneath the light bulb.

"We told you that you should have stayed. You need to be punished"

"Punished? For…?"

"You're a killer Ryan. Me and the others. We all died at your hands. We all needed our pain to end. But you had to go and do it for us. Euthanasia, mercy killing, murder. It's all the same. Deny it as much as you want. You're a fucking murderer. And why? Just so people could comfort you and tell you 'You did all you could. We're here for you. It's all right'" she mockingly repeated what had been said to him ages ago. "You killed to feel loved and wanted. Like your existence mattered on this planet. We all saw how your friend's and coworkers held and comforted you"

Lydia laughed long and hard.

"Killing for love? How pathetic are you? You. Are. Fucking sick. And sick men must be punished for their ill deeds. This will be entertaining, just like _the last one_"

"It was you" he said, finally realizing it as he looked at the floor. "The entire time. The phone calls, the dreams, the hallucinations. All you. What…are you?"

"I, we are _the forces that be_ in this realm. I had to set you on the right path now didn't I? It was your fault. It was always _your fault_. But I guess you just can't learn anything can you? You enjoy your death now.

Lydia snapped her fingers and disappeared one final time, leaving Ryan wallowing on the ground in shock. From somewhere in the dark came the clicking sounds of heels. The sound was joined by the noise of metal being dragged across the ground. And he was horrified to hear liquid dripping onto the floor in large slapping sounds. He didn't even have to look up to know that the Blood Nurse was standing in the room with him. Ryan could smell the rich copper scent coming off her body. It was like some morbid cologne.

He cried as he saw the heels stop right in front of him. The light was almost entirely blocked by the body in front of him. His heart leaped when he felt cold metal graze against his neck. He knew that his time was coming. In a few short moments, the ax that she held would take his head off and he would be no more. Yet still, faced with his immanent fate, he tried to deny what was happening and what he had just heard.

"Not my fault, not my fault, not my fault…All I wanted was to feel loved and wanted. To know that someone cared for me" he cried.

The Blood Nurse looked at him with a faceless expression. Puddles of blood pooled at her feet. She wound back the ax, satisfied that she was lined up with Ryan's neck. He continued to cry.

"Not my fault, not my fault, not my fault. IT'S ALL MY FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAULT!" he screamed in anger, lunging at the Blood Nurse.

He tackled her and the two went sprawling to the floor. The ax fell out of her grip and clattered to the floor. Ryan lost himself as he thrashed atop the monster underneath him. He unleashed a flurry of punches and clawing on the creature, crying and yelling. Even though she was covered in slippery blood, he found it remarkably easy to hold her at bay and assault her. He felt the skin of his hands break, his blood mixing with hers. His knuckles started to break but he was unable to feel the pain as his rage took over.

"IT'S ALL MY FAULT! I TAKE RESPONSIBILTY FOR EVERYTHING I'VE DONE! I'M SICK, I DESERVE EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENED TO ME!" he screamed in between punches. "BUT WHAT I DON'T DESERVE IS SOMEONE PUNISHING ME! I WILL PUNISH MYSELF EVERYDAY! I'M THE ONE WHO WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE GUILT OF WHAT I'VE DONE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! THAT'S PUNISHMENT ENOUGH! I WILL WALLOW IN WHAT I'VE DONE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! IT WILL EAT AT MY SOUL UNTIL THE DAY THAT I DIE! THERE IS AN EMPTINESS THAT I WILL FEEL EVERYDAY WHEN I WAKE UP! AND I WILL KNOW THAT IT WAS ME, _ME_ WHO PUT MYSELF THERE!"

He continued to punch and claw and scream nonsense, finally feeling so much more than he had ever felt in his whole entire life. Blood from the monster splattered him as he struck it. Little by little, he felt the layers of bandages give way and separate from the Blood Nurses face. He continued to claw and cry as the dam holding back his emotions erupted. Hot tears stung his face. Ryan lost himself to his own guilt and rage. When he finally opened his eyes to stare back at the creature he saw that she looked remarkably different as the bandages and layers of caked blood had been removed. The face staring back at him snapped him out of his rage and Ryan's heart was caught in his throat. He didn't know what to say as he stared down at the creature beneath him.

"Oh my God. You could be her twin"

**There ****will be an epilogue. This chapter was one hell of an effort. Some lines, you may notice, have come from the games. The credit for those lines goes to Konami.**


	13. Venice Queen

It was a new day. The morning had come but it was the only thing to really change the town of Silent Hill. The night had given way to a murky, gray soup of a dawn. Looking at the day break you could tell that it had been raining all night and the weather had spilled over to the next day. The sun was assuredly up. The star's light was obscured by the immense cloud cover that rested high above the town. Silent hill, the entire hamlet was quiet. Just like its namesake.

After the confrontation in the hospital, she had made her way back to the third floor and then subsequently out of the building. Julia knew that she had one more thing to take care of before leaving and it was something that she now had to accomplish on her own. _Really_ on her own this time. Taking the map and her aunt's personal file, she knew that Simmons St. would lead her to her aunt's house. She trekked quietly through the streets, not having a firm grasp on where she was going and not particularly caring. She should have been worried about whatever could have been roaming the streets. But even now, after all she'd been through, that threat seemed to be an afterthought. Julia didn't even seem to care about her injuries which were, miraculously, feeling much better. Healed even.

Julia wandered through the deserted streets in a daze, lost in thought. The night's events had left her physically and emotionally drained. Between the monsters, the injuries she'd sustained, the terror and fruitless searching she'd gone through, she was ready to pack it up and call it. She had had enough. The fact of the matter was that she just didn't care anymore. _She just didn't care_. She hadn't even bothered to bring her weapons with her. Thinking back to several hours ago, she knew what the proverbial straw was that had broken her back. That straw was Ryan.

He was a bad man; had done horrible things. It had been the worst feeling in the world to know that her companion, the man who had helped, cared for and perhaps even loved her, had been a sick murderer all the while. That sense of under mindedness was what clawed at Julia. She couldn't escape the thoughts that forced their way into her mind. All she could think about was what the videotape had showed her. She remembered vividly as the camera had captured him while he took each and every life. And then how he had cried and wallowed in sorrow afterwards. Was that how he got his kicks? Killing people and making it look like he had tried everything he could to keep them going? And then to play off of other peoples sympathies. The thought just made her feel even more emotionally tired.

Julia walked for yards and yards before finally making it to Simmons. Going up the street she noticed the mix of residential homes as well as small businesses. The businesses were nothing special. Mostly small office buildings, insurance agencies or stationary stores. But the homes were what stood out. Most having a rustic, colonial feel to them. Like the kind of houses one would see an elderly person living in. The types of homes with long porches and high, steeple like roofs.

Simmons didn't go on for very long. Julia checked the map and refreshed her memory with the address of her aunt's home. She hoped that it would still be there and hoped that it was still her aunt's. After walking several yards up the street, she had found her aunt's home. 78995 was easy enough to find by looking at the mail boxes dotting the street. One after the other, the numbers flew past her until she found the combination that matched the information on the personal file.

Julia stopped and stood in front of the house. It was an old home. Like most of the homes in the town, it was a simple two story establishment. The windows appeared smoky, caked with years of dirt. A large porch wrapped around the front and sides of the house. Pieces of wood connected a large hand rail to the bottom of the porch, creating a fence like effect. A huge door stood near the center of the home. A metal door knocker hung from it by a single nail. The rest had since been stripped out of the wood. The house had once been painted white but was now cracking and peeling. It gave the home a decayed look. Quite fitting, given the town it rested in. The roof of the house was surprisingly in much better shape. Gray shingles lined the roof evenly and a large brick smoke stack poked out from the right side of the house. Julia could almost make out the black soot that had smeared the top of the bricks.

After everything that she had been through, Julia was tired of hesitating so she strode up to the door. The lawn was dotted with a series of cobble stones that led to the stairs of the porch. She made sure that her feet touched each of the rocks, afraid that stealing away from the path would lead to somewhere sinister. Julia's feet pounded up the stairs, the wood creaking under her weight, and she made her way to the front door not even bothering to look in through the windows. They were too filthy to see through anyway.

She reached for the door knob, turned it and pushed the door open. It was like walking into a dream. So foreign yet so familiar. For as old as the house seemed, it was remarkable how little noise there was. Ageless almost. Julia stepped inside and was greeted by a small foyer. Ahead was a set of stairs leading up to the second floor. To her right was what appeared to be a dining room and to her left a family room. The whole ground level was covered with a hard wood floor. Julia walked slowly into the family room, letting her gaze fall over everything. She wanted to take in as much as she could. She saw that the room was furnished by an old fabric couch and some brown recliners. The couch had flower patterns on it that, at one time, would have been lovely. But now it was faded and hard to tell what the original colors had once been. She passed her hand over the furniture and her hand came away dusty.

Brushing her hand on her pants, Julia looked at what else adorned the room. There was nothing really special. Just a few aged scenic paintings hung on the wall, framed by hand carved wooden frames. They too had collected much dust. Her eyes traveled to the fireplace and its mantle. The pit looked like it hadn't been used in years and the mantle was devoid of material goods save for some grounded stumps of old candles. Wax spread in small, hard puddles on the hard rock of the mantle. Julia had seen enough and walked over to the dining room, passing through the kitchen.

She only briefly glanced at the kitchen as she passed through it. All there was to note was an old sink, some open cupboards and a large steel refrigerator. Whoever had decorated the room had seen fit to cover the whole thing in an ugly yellow color. It would have been easier if they had just pissed everywhere. The effect would have been the same regardless.

Julia stepped into the dining room and ran her hand over the old table and four chairs that rested there. She wanted to be able to touch the objects in the house to get a sense of what she had forgotten. But her mind was coming up blank. She knew she had memories of the time spent in this house. However, Julia was unable to recall any of them. Was it possible that it had been so long since stepping foot into this house that the memory of it had eroded completely from her memory?

Looking behind her she noticed a china cabinet and the rows upon rows of ceramic masterpieces held within. Julia's eyes traveled over the dishes and fine tea cups that sat on rows of glass. A faint memory worked its way into her brain. She could see herself and her aunt playing tea party. They were using these very dishes to play mock parties with dolls and each other. Good memories. Fond memories. But they were memories that didn't last long.

One fact remained clear to Julia among all others. There were no photographs of family or friends in the house at all. It seemed as though her aunt hadn't had the opportunity to gather any touches of family life. Either that or she had never had _the time_ to do it. No time to amass any pictures of relatives. The thought made Julia depressed. There was nothing that her aunt had kept that anchored her to a life outside of the desolate town.

Somewhere, Julia heard the sound of heels plodding across the hardwood floor. It was odd because Julia hadn't heard a door open or anyone come down the stairs. The sound stopped abruptly.

"Julia?" came a soft, feminine voice from behind her.

Time slowed to a stand still as the she turned around. All Julia could do was stare in disbelief at who she was looking at. It was almost like seeing one's reflection in a mirror. The resemblance couldn't have been more uncanny. The woman had dirty blond hair down to the small of her back, full colorful eyes, a beautiful complexion and rosy pink lips. She was wearing a cream colored blouse and skirt, the recognizable ensemble of a nurse's uniform of her period in time. The blouse was cut a tad low; her cleavage peaked out from the fabric of the collared shirt slightly. A red sweater framed the woman, giving her some much needed color. She had an expression of surprised bewilderment plastered onto her beautiful face.

Julia's voice caught in her throat as she took a step towards the woman, searching for the right words. She had the look and feel of the person that she had been searching for. What was startling was that she looked like she hadn't aged at all. The woman didn't look a day over twenty-seven. But she wanted to be sure. Julia had to know that this wasn't a trick or a hoax or some strange coincidence, playing on her sanity. She had to be certain that she had finally found who she was looking for. Julia took a deep breath and tried to talk, a mixture of fear, hesitation, doubt and hope all ran through her.

"A—Aunt Lisa?" she asked.

The woman's face contorted and changed. The look that danced across her face was a mix of joy and sadness all at once. The kind of expression that one only sees in those that have missed a love on for a very, very long time. She smiled a broad smile which made her eyes almost shut. Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks. She nodded several times to confirm her identity. Immediately Julia was overwhelmed with emotion. She brought her hands to her face, covering her mouth and nose. Breathing heavily, her eyes watered and tears ran down her face. She found that she could no longer stand and slumped to her knees on the hard wood floor. Julia broke down and sobbed tears that were no longer tears of sorrow or fear or loneliness. The tears spent now were tears of immense joy. She lost her self and was so glad that her journey had finally come to an end. So relieved that she had finally found the woman she had been looking for all these years. Nothing else mattered. Julia had succeeded. She had found her aunt.

In a few short steps, Lisa was down by her niece's side holding and comforting her. Julia stole herself away from her tears long enough to return the embrace. It wasn't a dream. Aunt Lisa was really here. She sobbed joyfully and looked up to the ceiling as if transcending the barrier and speaking to the heavens.

"Thank you. Oh God, thank you" she cried as Lisa held her.

"It's alright" her aunt said as she continued to comfort her.

For what seemed like an eternity the two just kneeled on the floor and held each other. Julia hoped that it would never end and she would never have to let go. She felt that if she did she would lose her aunt again forever. Lisa helped Julia to her feet. The girl tried to regain some semblance of self as she was led over to an old couch in the living room. Julia brushed some of the hot tears from her eyes before Lisa started to question her again.

"Look at you. You're all grown up" she said as she held her out at arms length to get a better view of her. "It's like looking into a mirror. Guess you got all the good looks from this side of the family" she half cried and half smiled. "I've missed you so much. Oh my God, it's been so long"

"You have no idea" Julia replied, rubbing her eyes and still trying to take everything in.

"What brought you here? To this town. This house? My home?" Lisa asked.

"I came looking for you. It's been years since I've seen you. I must have been at least…"

"Five? Yes, it has been a very long time" she said as she sniffed back tears

Lisa stood up from the couch and walked to the front door. She opened it and gestured Julia to follow her.

"Why don't we go for a little walk, get ourselves caught up"

Without even thinking of what could be waiting for her outside, Julia did as her aunt instructed and walked outside. Lisa shut the door behind them.

**III**

Lisa's "little walk" essentially translated into several trips around the block and a major detour along the lake shore. That wasn't to say Julia wasn't grateful. Quite the contrary, she was ecstatic to finally spend some time with her long lost relative. She found that the more time she spent with her aunt the more memories came flooding back to her. They talked of many things. Boys, music from their respected eras, what kind of hair products and makeup they liked to wear and were they chose to shop these days. Girl stuff. All in all, Julia was surprised to hear that she and her aunt shared many of the same tastes. Great minds really did think alike. They continued to walk, passing the lake side, the outskirts of the amusement park before finally coming back to Lisa's home.

"You're in collage? Good girl. Getting an education is the best thing you can do for yourself"

"Thanks. I try" she said sheepishly.

"How's your mother?" Lisa inquired.

"Fine" Julia replied while looking at the ground.

"Just fine?" she asked, putting her arms around her as they walked.

Julia didn't know if she wanted to bring up the subject, afraid at the feelings it might invoke in her aunt. But she had come this far. She knew she had to suck it up.

"Mom has been a bit bent out of shape ever since you broke off contact from us. She mostly keeps to herself and works at her law firm. She never really likes me bringing up the subject of you"

"And yet, you still came looking for me" she said, touched.

"I had to. I know that you loved us even if mom couldn't see it"

She was a bit hesitant about her next question.

"You do love us right?" she said and bit her lower lip.

Lisa stopped and turned to her niece so she could focus. She cupped Julia's face with her hands.

"Of course I love you and your mother"

"Then how come you took off and never spoke to us again?"

"Believe me honey, I wanted to. I wanted to so bad. But things in this town have never been the best"

"Yeah, I kinda figured that one out" she replied. "So what have you been up to all this time?"

"Working in the hospital mostly. I was set to quit and move out of this town. I never really got the chance. Things didn't go the way I wanted them to"

"What do you mean?" asked Julia.

Lisa didn't appear to hear her niece's question. She looked like she had wandered off into thought and started in on a story. It all seemed so familiar to Julia. Partially because she had lived the same story, or rather nightmare, the past night. Lisa talked of death and monsters and things that no person should ever have to live through or experience. Yet still Julia listened to her aunt's words.

"There was a man who came to this town looking for his daughter. He found me in the hospital. Scared, alone, vulnerable. Without him, I didn't think that I would be able to make it through the nightmare I was in. But…he… left me. He couldn't understand what I'd become. Even I didn't understand. I was in such denial"

"What…you'd become?" Julia said, perplexed at her aunt's words.

"When he left, I felt like I had lost everything. Things just seemed to disappear for me here and I lost myself" Lisa said, letting out a long sorrowful sigh.

Julia wasn't too sure what her aunt was going on about. From the sound of it, she had had a bad relationship with a man who had a kid from another marriage. But none of that mattered to Julia in the slightest.

"Well, you're found now. So you can come home with me. I can explain everything to my mother and we can go back to the way things were. We can be a family again."

Lisa stopped, closed her eyes and shook her head lightly

"What do you mean no?" Julia chuckled, as if her aunt was joking.

"Julia, sweetheart. I can't leave this place" she said softly.

The smile eroded from Julia's face. Time for jokes was now over.

"Please, just come home" she said in a serious tone.

"No, honey. I can't"

Julia almost breathed the word. "Why?"

"I'm…dead"

It was like she'd been punched in the stomach. Julia backed away in shocked horror. Certain things you never expect to come out of a person's mouth. It wasn't possible. She had come all this way to find her aunt and now the woman was stating that she was dead. It had to be a lie. Or at the very least and ugly, ugly truth. Dead people didn't walk around and talk to you. Dead people moved on. Julia wouldn't accept this.

"No, no, no, no, NO! That's a lie. You aren't dead! I'm talking to you right here and now! You're not dead. You don't get to say that. You're. not DEAD!" she yelled as she clutched her head, trying to block out what was happening.

"Julia! Julia dear" she said as she grabbed her niece's shoulders. "Listen to me. I am. I am dead. I was murdered a long, long time ago"

"Murdered?! Then how are you here right now? How am I talking to you? Hearing and feeling you. How is something like that happening if you're dead?"

As much as she tried to deny it, Julia should have seen it coming. It was no wonder why her aunt looked like the spitting image of a woman two or three years older than Julia herself.

"I understood a along time ago. It just took me awhile to see what was really happening. I understood why I was still alive in this town even though everyone else was dead. I was just like them, like the monsters. It's this town. There's something…._special_ about it."

"You're lying! That isn't true. You are not a monster. You're my aunt and I love you and why the hell can't you just fucking come home?!" she said, starting to become hysterical.

"Julia, listen to me. Everything I've told you is true" She tried to make her niece focus on her. "All of it. I can't leave this place"

Julia felt nauseous. This was all killing her inside.

"Then…then…I'll stay here" she pleaded.

"No honey" Lisa said as she ran her hand through Julia's hair. Be reasonable. You have a life to live. Mine ended a long time ago. I can't have you ending yours for me"

"But you're all alone here. I can't just leave you"

"It's alright. You don't have to worry about me honey. I have someone with me now. Someone to share my pain and sorrow with. So I won't be alone anymore."

"Share your pain?" Julia questioned.

Suddenly there was the soft patter of shoes on gravel. Julia turned to face the direction that it was coming from. She squinted and saw a shape start to appear in the fog. She couldn't be sure but it almost seemed like a man. Out of the fog came something that Julia never expected to see. The scene was almost otherworldly. It was the type of thing that one sees only in a dream setting.

Coming out of the fog, like a ghost out of thin air, was Ryan. But something was different about him. His clothes were no longer the black jeans and shirt he had been wearing. They had been replaced by a set of green scrubs. Julia could see that he was clean shaven and had gotten rid of the bandana that he had been wearing. The wound to his head was completely gone as was the burn to his arm. He passed by her, glancing in her direction ever so slightly, only to come to a stop by her aunt's side.

Julia didn't know what she was feeling. It was a mix of disbelief and disgust all at once. How could he be here after she had left him in that hell? What was he doing standing next to her aunt like he knew her? Lisa looked at her niece, reading the girl's features.

"Julia, sweetheart" Lisa started, "We've both done bad things. Horrible things. We… belong together" she said, trying to find the right words. "I can't stand being alone anymore"

"How are…why…I don't under…him?" she stammered, unable to find the correct words to voice her questions. A million thoughts ran through her head

"It's alright. I made them a deal" he said, giving her a gentle smile.

"Deal? Them?"

"That's right. They could have me. But only if they'd release your aunt from the nightmare that they had forced her into"

"I don't under…"

"Julia" he interrupted, holding up a hand to silence her. "I know I'm a bad person. I did things to people that no man should ever do. I took the remaining time those people had without any concern for their well being and used it to fuel my own ill-gotten needs. What I've done was horrible and selfish and is something that I should be punished for forever. I don't expect any sympathy or acceptance of apology for the crimes I've committed"

"My aunt…was…" she said as the realization hit her. Her memory flooded back to the hospital and the horrors she had witnessed within.

Ryan walked over to her and put a hand on her face. He caressed her cheek and she looked into his eyes.

"You did this for…"

"Hey, this isn't about me. Not this time. This is about you and your aunt. I'm just along for the ride. And I accept that. It's time that I paid penance for what I did "

"Ryan…I don't…I don't know what to say" Julia said as she attempted in vain to process everything that was happening to her.

She really didn't. Julia didn't expect this from anyone. She certainly never expected it from him. But in a crazy way it made sense to her. In an insane world, it was the sanest decision.

"Don't worry about it" he said, waving her off. "You go on with your life. I've finally found what I've been looking for. I promise that your aunt will never be alone. She will always be safe. I promise you that" he smiled to her. "Don't make the same mistakes I did kiddo. Hold onto those that love you"

"Here" Lisa said as she removed her red sweater. "Make sure you give your mother my love. Do good things dear"

She stepped around behind Julia to put the garment on her shoulders before touching her once more on the face.

"My sweet little niece. You've made me so proud. You'll carry a little piece of me wherever you go"

Instantly Julia felt an extreme warmth work its way through her body. It was like an essence that had enveloped her soul and made her stronger. Both in mind, body and most important of all, spirit. Julia took a deep breath as she felt something she had never felt before. It was almost like being reborn. She turned around to face the two specters only to find emptiness behind her.

Rather than be saddened, Julia felt something entirely different. It was a sense of accomplishment, a sense that she had finished what she set out to do. It was a good feeling. Julia didn't know what she would do next. But she figured that it would be best to take the two people's words to heart. With the sun quickly coming up, Julia made the long journey back to her jeep. The road was completely repaired as if it had never been destroyed or altered in the first place. She found her car, got in, started it and left the town of Silent Hill.

"I'm coming home mom" she said to herself as she drove into the oncoming sun of the new day.

**III**

_**Several month's later.**_

It was a cold winter's afternoon and Julia was glad to be inside and out of the frigid weather. The colorful restaurant was a stark comparison to the look of the outside. Each table had been gleaned and the false wood grain shinned a bright sheen. Light reflect off of the black metal of the chairs enough to make her eyes squint. Patrons sat in booths or in chairs with cushions that had seen no end of abuse over the years. The TV was on and was tuned to VH1 to get some music in the air and the cooks were busy at work in the back. Smoke and steam billowed out of the open kitchen. In other words, it was a real homey environment. Just like a mom and pop restaurant should be like.

While not part of the uniform, the owners and patrons alike didn't seem to mind the red sweater she was wearing. She had been wearing it a lot lately and was thankful for the extra warmth that it provided her on the cold day. Julia had since grown her hair out a bit and it was becoming quiet long. The cooks had started to bust her chops about hair getting in the food. But she knew that they were only playing with her. Most of the regular customers thought that she looked really pretty so she decided that the change to her hair would be permanent.

It hadn't been a particularly busy day but she still found herself rushing from table to table, getting orders and refilling drinks. She stopped to rub her arms for warmth.

"Sure is a cold one today" she thought.

"Julia!" called Nathan from the kitchen, as he rang a little bell for added effect. "Table four is up!"

"Okay!" she called as she headed for the pickup window in a rush.

Perhaps too much of a rush. In her hurried state, the paper hat she was wearing flew off her head. Julia stopped and frowned at the flimsy excuse for a head dressing. Why did they insist that the female employees wear the stupid things? She didn't see the owners making the men wear them.

Julia stooped down and scooped the hat off the red tiled floor, brushed it off and reaffixed it to her head. She then strode over to the pickup window and grabbed the plate containing a club sandwich and some fries. Hot steam wafted from the plate. Taking the food over to table four, she set down the plate gently.

"Here you go" she said to the young blonde girl sitting at the table. "Anything else I can get you?"

The girl was casually reading a book and had placed it down to look at the waitress.

"No, I'm…" she trailed off as she got a good look at Julia.

The young woman sitting at the table looked at Julia, cocking her head to one side and furrowing her brow. It was almost like she was studying Julia. She had a very intricate, layered hairstyle and wore a pair of jeans with a long sleeved orange shirt. A very robust, white, hooded sweatshirt covered the garment. Julia also took note of the boots the girl was wearing. Ever since she got back home, she had been taking much more notice of things around her, unwilling to let even one detail escape her.

"Okay then…" Julia said as she started to walk to another table. "Just holler if you need anything"

The girl grabbed Julia by the arm and stared at her for a few moments. She winced a bit as an old pain rushed through her bones. Julia looked back at the girl in shock, not expecting someone to act like that.

"Do I…remind you of someone?" she asked the young girl.

The girl realized what she was doing and let go of her arm, collecting herself and acting a tad shameful.

"Yeah…yeah" the girl answered as she shook her head. "I'm sorry if I startled you" she said as she let go of Julia.

"No problem miss" she replied.

"Please" the young girl half chuckled and half smirked "I'm to young for that formal crap. Call me Cheryl"

"Will do" she smiled. "Just let me know when you want the check"

"No rush" she replied. "With weather like this who wants to go back outside anyway?"

Julia gave a short laugh, nodded to her customer and went back to serving the other patrons, suddenly feeling that her day had become a little brighter.

**III**

Ryan sat at the base of a tree, overlooking the lake side. He was surprisingly comfortable even with a large root sticking into his back. The sun hadn't come up just yet but it was on its way. A light breeze brushed at his face and he breathed in deep, taking a great deal of water vapor into his lungs. He stared as the water lapped against the shore in quick, little bursts; white capping ever so slightly. Nothing made a noise. Not even birds chirping. Ryan felt a strong sense of peace, a feeling that he hadn't experienced for a very long time.

Suddenly the breeze shifted and was blocked by something in the distance. Ryan could hear something coming across the grass and he turned his head towards the source of the noise.

"What are you doing here?" Lisa asked with a smile, brushing her hair back with one hand. She returned her arms, crossing them over her mid section so that she could hold each of her elbows with the opposite hand.

Ryan looked up at her and gave a quick smile.

"Just…just uh…watching the sunrise. You want to join me?" he said, pointing to the horizon.

Without saying anything Lisa came and sat down in a way that she could leaned her body up against his, her head cushioned by his chest. Lisa's head rested right underneath his chin and he could smell the sweet fragrance drifting from her hair. Like a mix of roses and wild berries. The two of them looked out over the water as the sun started to peek its way over the horizon. Rays of light made the sky take on a beautiful, hazy purple-red color. Ryan knew it wouldn't be long before it would be replaced with a brilliant orange. And then the morning would be complete.

"How do you think she's doing?" Lisa asked, using a free hand to entangle with one of Ryan's.

"Her?" he said. "I think she's doing just fine" he said, giving her hand a light squeeze.

"And what about you?" Lisa asked, her eyes still fixed on the rising light.

"I think…I think I finally did the right thing" he answered as he wrapped his other arm around her, holding her tightly.

"Me too" she answered.

**End.**

_So they say that 1 out of every 3 patients admitted to this place will die here. But some days the odds are worse than that. And on days like that, I guess the best thing you can hope for is that you took something from it. Anything. Anything at all. Even if it's just taking the time to lie on the grass and think about all the things you have left to do._

**Author's note: **

**I figured that it would be good to end this story with a quote. I took one from the show Scrubs (all praises for it go to the writers, of course), that hopefully fits and makes sense to this story in some weird way.**

**I apologize for not getting this ending out on the net sooner. Finals week really kicked my ass and I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to type anything for a few days afterwards (working a double/being dead tired didn't help). But the story is done. Is it a happy ending? Maybe, maybe not. But at least by reading it you're left with the sense that the characters did the right thing and followed the path's they were supposed to. This wasn't so much of an epilogue as it was a whole other chapter. Ah well, what are you gonna do?**

**I thank every one who has read/reviewed this and will continue to read it for as long as it is up on If you liked this, leave a review, drop me a line or stay tuned for whatever next I have up my sleeve.**

**Peace.**


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